The American company who purchased the Russian mixed martial arts organization was finally discovered today:
Sibling Entertainment Group Holdings, Inc. ["Sibling Holdings"]
announced Sibling Theatricals, Inc. ["Sibling Theatricals"], a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Sibling Entertainment Group, Inc., together
with Garlin Holdings Limited as Managing Members, have formed Sibling
Sports, LLC (a Delaware limited liability company) for the purpose of
creating M-1 Global, LLC (a New York limited liability company), a new
mixed martial arts organization.
-cnnmoney.com
M-1 Global will be the new and improved mixed martial arts organization that is expected to take over areas where MMA is most popular including Asia, Russia, Europe and the United States. The company already hired several well known fighters to compete under this fighting organization including the recent acquisition of Fedor
Emelianenko.
In a press conference that was held earlier today in New York, Fedor announced that he signed a contract with M-1 Global for 2 years (6 Fights). Fedor stated that he felt uncomfortable with the UFC and signed with M-1 Global instead because they are willing to be more open, which means that they would allow Fedor to fight other champions in whatever organization they may be in. He was asked about fighting Randy Couture and replied by saying that he has great respect for him and has admired Randy for a very long time.
M-1 Global has several future goals:
They want to have rules just like PrideFC and then they plan on making these rules worldwide. They expect to have a tournament as early as February of 2008 with Fedor on the fight card of course. Plans on promoting a U.S. event is in their agenda, hoping to have it in Madison Square Garden if possible. They hope to acquire fighters from the UFC when their contracts run out because they feel that their organization will treat them betters as MMA athletes.
Here’s a snip from the President and CEO of Siblings Holdings, Mitchell Maxwell:
"We are excited to announce the formation of Sibling Sports, LLC and
our new mixed martial arts organization M-1 Global…Mixed martial arts
is the fastest growing sport in America. It is
the boxing of the 21st century. We see our entry into sports
entertainment as an integral part of our strategic plan to develop new
and unique entertainment products worldwide…We have pulled together a
world-class group of people to lead our
new organization. Our new management team has extensive mixed martial
arts experience in Europe, Russia, Asia and the US. We have developed a
strategic alliance with SFX Media & Events, one of the premiere
sports marketing, event management, and athlete management companies in
the world"
M-1 Global has also appointed Monte Cox as President and CEO of the
company. Monte Cox is a 13-year MMA veteran who has worked as a
promoter and an agent in the past.
Here’s a snip from Monte Cox after he was appointed:
"I have been involved in mixed martial arts for almost 13 years.
While I have been offered many other positions over the years, this is
the first one that I have accepted. I am elated to have the opportunity
to work with Mitchell Maxwell and the great team of managers he has
been able to assemble. We look forward to continuing to move mixed
martial arts into the mainstream, not only here in the US, but
worldwide…We have developed an alliance with M-1 Mix Fight and we are
honored to be working with Vadim Finkelchtein, Apy Echteld, and Joost
Raimond. They have many years of experience managing fighters and
staging events in Europe, Russia, and Asia. Rounding out our new
management team are Bob Clark, currently serving as President of
Sibling Theatricals, and Brian Patton, a CPA, and business manager for
MMA legend Matt Hughes"
