M-1's Vadim Finkelstein, Fedor Emelianenko, and Strike Force's Scott Coker

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Ah, the Cold War.  In pro wrestling, it gave us a zillion "Russian" bad guys who were never portrayed by actual Russians, and got their Russianhood via shaving their heads, growing some facial hair, and doing a bad accent.  As far as anyone can tell, legitimate Russians first entered wrestling through Japan in the late '80s.  Around the time of the USSR's fall, the Russians either became good guys, stuck around on the independent circuit, or changed gimmicks, while other countries were for evil foreigners such as Ludvig Borga, the evil Finnish environmentalist (Yes.).  Portrayals of Russians in other genres of fiction changed, and in the real world, the general public started to embrace them over the next several years.

In the aughts, perception of Russia and other former Soviet nations changed for the worse.  Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin and the election was riddled with fraud allegations.  Meanwhile, to a generation of internet users, Russian businesses became synonymous with sketchiness thanks to websites like AllOfMP3, an online music store known for its low prices and flexibility in file quality/formats, was theoretically only legal in Russia but accessible worldwide.  Its existence became a major world news story when the World Trade Organization refused to allow Russia to join if they didn't shut the site down.

Fedor Emelianenko became in MMA star in this climate.  When Pride went under, the negotiations of M-1 Global (his promotional organization) became legendary.  M-1 head Vadim Finkelstein was portrayed by some in the MMA media as a carnvial barker/ringmaster turned svengali, and some people laughed at him just because they thought he had a funny name. Regardless of how much money was thrown at him, Fedor would only fight for companies that would allow M-1 to participate as equal co-promoters, keeping him out of the UFC; leading to deals with Bodog, Affliction, and now Strike Force.  Allegations of mob ties were thrown around, often without anything resembling proof other than suspicions becqause they're both Russian and shady.   There are legitimate criticisms of M-1, which Leland Rolling is covering at Bloody Elbow, but too much of the time it seems like Finkelstein is being treated like a real life Boris Malenko, the sneaky, evil Russian manager who wears bad suits, and I don't know how widespread it would be if we were talking about an American-born fighter and his management, especially if the management didn't have a name that a lot of people seem to find wacky.

That said, who's to say it's not at least partially by design?  Fedor is the star, and his reputation has to be protected.  Finkelstein gets to play bad cop and takes the heat himself.  In terms of a wrestling analogy it's like:

• John Laurinaiitis firing talent so Vince McMahon doesn't have to be the bad guy.
• Motoko Baba making the unpopular decisions in All Japan so her husband Shohei "Giant" Baba would retain his perception as an honest man who was too good for wrestling.
  

Over the last couple weeks, there's been a lot of discussion about how NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics is frustrating.  TV critic Alan Sepinwall of the Star-Ledger summarizes it pretty well in his story about how the Olympics have been dominating the ratings:

Ebersol has made NBC the dominant Olympics TV player for nearly 20 years and, in the process, has gotten scores of complaints about his coverage philosophy — in which airing results live isn’t a priority if they won’t be in prime time, in which female-friendly sports like figure skating and ice dancing always take scheduling precedence over the likes of hockey and in which prime-time coverage bounces from event to even without much of a road map.

Ebersol’s argument has always been that the Olympics audience isn’t a classic sports audience — that viewers tune in not because they suddenly care about the Super-G or the biathlon, but because they enjoy the new stories every two to four years. And he continues to insist that viewers want events tape-delayed if it means they can be seen at night when viewers are home from work. (That’s why NBC’s prime-time coverage on the West Coast is 100 percent tape-delayed — and viewers in California are in the same time zone as Vancouver.)

With internet news and streaming becoming so prominent, viewers have become a lot more frustrated this year.  The games are happening in the Pacific Time Zone.  NBC is spoiling results for games not yet aired on TV on their main Olympic page that viewers have to go through to see the streaming coverage.  Why can't they just cover the games live AND air the most marketable ones on a delay in prime time?

Anyway, in 2000, the match for the gold medal in heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling, Alexander Karelin took on Rulon Gardner.  Karelin was Russian and was so dominant that he was undefeated in international competition and hadn't lost a point in the previous six years.  Allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs were so rampant that he was nicknamed "The Experiment."  Gardner was an American farm boy with a soft, normal physique who had worked as a teacher and lost to Karelin in the 1997 FILA Wrestling World Championships.  It was the perfect Ebersol human-interest story, and the coverage suffered for it, with the post-production turning a great moment into a cartoon.  Find out why after the jump.

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via mmajunkie.com

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As Kevin Iole reports, the big news from UFC 110 was that Cain Velasquez solidified his position as a top contender to Brock Lesnar's UFC heavyweight title by knocking out Pride and UFC veteran Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in less than two and a half minutes.  Such a convincing victory against such a legendary fighter should guarantee Velasquez a shot at Lesnar's title before the end of the year, though the winner of Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir at UFC 111 on March 27th is expected to get the first shot at Lesnar.

Bobby Lashley

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Bobby Lashley was one of the last amateur wrestlers recruited by WWE.  Possessing a physique resembling that of The Incredible Hulk, his appearance caused him to be brought up from developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling too early.  That said, he improved rapidly thanks to feuding with Finlay (possibly the best wrestler in the world at the time) and Booker T (in the best run of his career in due to having great opponents and being energized by how much having his wife Sharmell as a valet enhanced his act).  He was moved to ECW as a pet project of Paul Heyman, who suggested that he imitate Brock Lesnar in certain respects, such as his vertical leap to the apron ring entrance.

In the middle of a reign as ECW Champion, the rocket was strapped to his back as he was Donald Trump's representative at Wrestlemania 23 in Detroit against Umaga, representing Vince McMahon in a match where the "billionaires" put their hair at stake.  It was the biggest show in wrestling history, drawing 1.25 millions buys on PPV and bringing Wrestlemania back to stadiums after experimenting with running arena in top 10 markets for a few years (Vince McMahon believed that Wrestlemania 19 did below expectations on PPV because it was in Seattle, Washington).  This led to a feud with Vince McMahon where they traded the ECW title in gimmick matches.  He ended up being drafted to Raw for a few months in the upper-card before taking time off for shoulder surgery and recovery.  He never came back and requested a release from the company, believed to be unconditional except for barring him from publicly discussing any complaints he had about racisim within the company.

Aside from a one-off appearance for AAA at Triplemania in 2008, he turned his attention to MMA, working his way up through smaller promotions instead of taking Brock Lesnar's approach of debuting for K-1 and moving to UFC.  He's been undefeated so far and most notably defeated Bob Sapp this past June in a match seemingly made solely because of their similar looks as massively jacked up bald black guys.  Before the Sapp fight, he signed with TNA, pushed as a dual-sports competitor who's concurrently an MMA fighter and pro wrestler.

Will he benefit Strike Force?  Probably.  He's no Brock Lesnar (who was on top of WWE for a better overall period of business), but he was in the money drawing match at the biggest Wrestlemania ever, even if Trump often got his name wrong during his appearance plugging the show (calling him "Bobby Langley" or forgetting his last name, as well as calling him "a black gentleman who is the strongest man I have ever seen").  He seems like the opposite of Lesnar as far as personality goes, so it should be interesting to see how MMA fans react to him by comparison.  He's more well-known than most of their fighters, although probably less so than Gina Carano and the newly signed Dan Henderson.  He's definitely a good addition to the company.

After the jump, check out a video of the coolest thing that Lashley did during his WWE run.

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Here's the press release.  More in a little while.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FORMER WWE CHAMPION AND UNDEFEATED MMA HEAVYWEIGHT BOBBY LASHLEY TO MAKE STRIKEFORCE DEBUT ON JANUARY 30NEW YORK (December 10, 2009)-Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) heavyweight champion and undefeated mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Bobby Lashley has signed a multi-year agreement with STRIKEFORCE and will  make his debut for the world championship MMA promotion at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday, January 30.

The 6 foot 3 inch, 250 pound Lashley, also a former collegiate wrestling star for Missouri Valley College and member of The United States Army, will face an opponent that has not yet been determined during the live, SHOWTIME® telecast of STRIKEFORCE:  Miami, the historic, first-ever STRIKEFORCE event in the state of Florida.

In his last MMA start on June 27, 2009, the 33-year-old pulverized and scored a first round (3:17) TKO on 6 foot 5 inch, 350 plus pound goliath Bob "The Beast" Sapp with a barrage of punches in Biloxi, Mississippi.  The win brought Lashley's overall MMA record to 4-0.

"I'm looking forward to fighting for STRIKEFORCE and challenging myself by taking on some of the top heavyweights in MMA," said Lashley, a native of Junction City, Kansas and resident of Denver, Colorado.

After getting his feet wet with several matches in both the WWE Raw and SmackDown! shows in 2005 and 2006, Lashley captured the WWE United States Championship by defeating rival competitor "JBL."  During this stint with the league and another in 2007, Lashley wrestled several top superstars, including The Big Show and John Cena.

Lashley made his MMA debut on December 13, 2008, earning a 41 second TKO over Joshua Franklin after Franklin sustained a cut that would not allow him to continue their fight.

Earlier this year, Lashley joined Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling.  In his first appearance with the league on July 30, he helped tag team matchup partner Mick Foley defeat superstars Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash.

Tickets for STRIKEFORCE:  Miami officially go on-sale tomorrow/Friday, December 11 at the BankAtlantic Center ticket office as well as online at www.Ticketmaster.com <http://www.ticketmaster.com/>   or by phone at (800)745-3000.

Doors at BankAtlantic Center open at 7 p.m.  The first non-televised, preliminary card fight will begin at 8 p.m.

STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on premium cable television network SHOWTIME.  The promotion made its live, primetime debut on CBS with the "Fedor vs. Rogers" mega-fight that it co-promoted with M-1 Global on

Saturday, November 7 and generated 5.46 million viewers for the main event between the world's number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, and superstar Brett "The Grim" Rogers.

About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com <http://www.strikeforce.com/> ) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its "Shamrock vs. Gracie" event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose's HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with "Shamrock vs. Gracie."  In May 2008, West Coast

Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

In a move that was expected to happen a month or two ago, Strikeforce has announced that they have signed former Pride middleweight and welterweight champion Dan Henderson. 

Hendo was last seen on the UFC completely annihilating Michael Bisping following their coaches' fight after the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

 

One would think having a nine month layoff due to a drug suspension would give a normal person plenty of time to prepare for a fight. Karo Parisyan is nothing approaching normal. The UFC vet and decorated Judo black belt pulled out of his scheduled fight with Dustin Hazelett one day before the weigh-ins for UFC 106 were to take place. Dana White, who has put up with Karo's nonsense for years, has finally seen enough and announced Karo's dismissal via Twitter:

Karo Parisyan has fucked over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!! He will not be fighting ever again in the UFC!!

He offered no specifics at the time, but followed up his previous tweet with this

Pulled out of the fight the day before the weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain.

So ends the stormy UFC run for a talented but mentally jacked up dude.

Allow me to preface this post by saying that I am SUPER ULTRA #1 Brock Lesnar fan and would love nothing more than to see him smash each and every opponent into teeny, tiny pieces. Having said that, I totally understand why people hate him. He is an asshole. He is cocky. He seems to believe that he's doing MMA a favor just by being there. He is very easy to hate, and really doesn't give a damn if you love him or hate him. He fights for the money and nothing else. That's what makes these comments from Shane Carwin's blog that much more stunning.

 

I am sure most of you know I am not the leader of the Lesnar Fan Club. That being said, antics or not, he is OUR UFC HWT Champion. He beat a future Hall of Famer to keep that belt and he NEEDS our prayers and good thoughts right now ... Brock has a wife, kid, and friends that depend on him to make their lives better. You do not have to support Brock and his antics but you should have respect for the human side of what is happening here.  Talk of stripping a man of his title due to illness will set this sport back farther then anything Brock has ever said. We need our Champions healthy and defending. I know the show will go on but to be a Champion you must beat a Champion ... If you sit around bashing Brock or making fun of this because of his antics you might be the very same thing you despise. As an MMA fan, as a human be concerned that one of OUR OWN has fallen and needs our support.

Other than Brock, the person whose career is being impacted by this situation is Carwin. Undefeated and with a head full of momentum, a win over Brock would have meant a lot more money in his pocket, not to mention the affection of legions of fans who want to see Lesnar humbled. For him to take the high road here and offer Brock and his family support and warm thoughts speaks highly to his character. It's nice to see sportsmanship like this. Too bad Brock probably doesn't give a damn.