M-1 Global and HDNET Team Up To Anoint Fedor Emelianenko As A God

For those of you who have criticized the UFC media train for being embarrassingly one-sided, I give you M-1 Global.

Fedor Emelianenko’s management group teamed up with HDNET to produce a half-hour-long stroke job about the man many consider the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Talk about waxing poetic. I was so turned off by the piece that I stopped watching it halfway through.

M-1 proceeded to parade out executive after executive, who each took turns at kissing Fedor’s Russian a**.

From Dana White’s favorite target, Jerry Millen, to Jimmy Smith, Ian Freeman, and Joe Kelly, they all basically anointed Fedor as a God.

Also included in the video were Sports Illustrated ‘s Josh Gross and HDNET’s Bas Rutten, Kenny Rice, and Ron Kruk.

I completely understand the need to build Fedor up in the eyes of the American fans. As great a fighter as Fedor is, he has yet to prove he is a pay-per-view draw.

I was excited at the prospect of the video, but what killed me was the fact that there was not one mention of his failure to lead Affliction to the promised land, nor was there any mention of the failed negotiations with the UFC.

If you are going to produce a documentary about a fighter, it is my belief that it should never be as one-sided as HDNET and M-1 Global have made it out to be.

I am not here to argue Fedor’s place in the sport of mixed martial arts.

Before I watched him destroy two former UFC champions and hand Brett Rogers his first career loss, I was not a believer in his standing as the best fighter on the planet.

He has gotten as far as he has because he is so damn good—there can be no argument there.

I do not need Kenny Rice to tell me how great he is, and I don’t really care what Jerry Millen has to say; he has made a big enough fool of himself already.

If their main goal was to make Fedor look like a great fighter, they failed.

At the end of the video, they showed his bouts with Hong Man Choi and Andrei Arlovski.

Of course, both of these bouts were produced by none other than HDNET, or were at the very least called by their announcers.

I am the type of fan that likes to hear both sides of the argument. This production was a complete snowjob and will do nothing to increase Fedor’s visibility with the fans.

They never even interviewed any of his previous opponents. No referees, no former Pride execs.

Any rational fan would realize that anyone associated with M-1 Global or HDNET would never risk their jobs by saying anything other than Fedor is the greatest.

If I had to hear one more time, how special, how kind or how warm Fedor is, I would have gotten sick.

HDNET special on Fedor