Fedor Emelianenko and his M-1 Global management team are planning for an extended stay in Los Angeles prior to worldâs No. 1 heavyweightâs headlining bout against Fabricio Werdum at Strikeforce M-1 Global âFedor vs. Werdumâ on June 26 in San Jose, Calif.
Pending visa approval, Emelianenko will arrive in Los Angeles just prior to June 16, said Evgeni Kogan, M-1 Globalâs Director of Operations. Kogan said the Russian heavyweight will arrive in the U.S. earlier than his usual schedule in an effort to spend more time with stateside fans.
In addition to attending Strikeforce âLos Angelesâ on June 16 at the Nokia Theatre, Emelianenko has also been slated to appear with EA Sports at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), an annual video game conference held that same week for the industryâs leading trade professionals at the L.A. Convention Center. EA Sports will release its âEA Sports MMAâ video game, featuring Emelianenko, the Strikeforce promotion and a considerable portion of its fighter roster in late 2010.
Meanwhile, Kogan said itâs unlikely that the 33-year-old Emelianenko has watched the recent performance of Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, who stopped Brett Rogers with strikes in his first title defense at Strikeforce âHeavy Artilleryâ on May 15 in St. Louis, Mo.
âGiven the usual rituals of Fedorâs trainers, they donât like him watching (potential) future opponents, or anything violent for that matter in preparation to his fight,â said Kogan.
In Overeemâs post-fight address to the St. Louis crowd, the 30-year-old Dutch fighter stated that M-1 Global had turned down offers to have Emelianenko fight him.
Kogan said those accusations were âcategorically untrueâ and that Overeem and his Golden Glory team are continuing to ârumor mongerâ to secure a fight with Emelianenko.
Kogan, who joined M-1 Globalâs staff last winter, said that, to his knowledge, an official offer to face Overeem has never been presented to the management team.
âIf (Overeem) can point to where Fedor turned down a proposed fight, weâd like to hear it,â said Kogan.
Following the heavyweight championâs strong performance on May 15, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker voiced his intentions to sit down with M-1 Global following Emelianenkoâs bout with Werdum to discuss a title bout. Kogan said his organization, which is co-promoting the June 26 event with Strikeforce, is completely open to talks with its U.S. partner for a potential Overeem-Emelianenko bout.
âHis camp is definitely not looking past Werdum,â said Kogan. âThey consider him a dangerous opponent. That being said, we have nothing against Overeem as an opponent and weâre completely open to discussing that fight after June 26, if Fedor does well.â
Kogan confirmed that the multi-time Russian Sambo champion hasnât veered from his usual training regimen in his hometown of Stary Oskol, which is located in an isolated region of southern Russia. The rep said Emelianenko is in final week of the most arduous part of his training.
Strikeforce âLos Angelesâ and âFedor vs. Werdumâ will both air live on Showtime.