Some interesting words from Tim Leidecker over at Sherdog.com regarding M-1 Global's expansion into Europe and their #1 fighter's potential opponent for an upcoming M-1 Global event. The headline of the story revolves around the plethora of fighters that M-1 is courting as possible opponents for Fedor Emelianenko.
In the article, Leidecker mentions Semmy Schilt as moving up the ranks as being a possible opponent for Fedor. While setting up an event in Holland at Amsterdam Arena may sell this type of fight out and put M-1 Global in the black on the event, Semmy Schilt is not a dangerous opponent for Fedor.
In their first fight, Fedor controlled much of the battle and even had full mount in some cases. The only real challenge for Fedor was posturing up, but the battle was early in his PRIDE reign. We can most likely assume that Fedor's skills have improved significantly from that time considering his dominance over the entire Heavyweight division of PRIDE.
Schilt's main weapons are his kicks and standup, but he has virtually no ground game when it comes to fighting in MMA. His K-1 career blossomed and he recently won the K-1 Grand Prix Final. His MMA career never amounted to anything spectacular for the very reason mentioned before, his ground game. Fedor will most likely be able to put Schilt down and finish him the second time around.
Rothwell is also in the running
Ben Rothwell is a name that is also mentioned if the promotion decides to make a splash in the U.S. in the Spring. Their February date has been pushed back to April, but it still looks like an event in the States will happen. Schilt wouldn't be a draw here, but Rothwell is definitely more well-known due to his IFL stint. How much he's well-known is a different matter.
Regardless of Rothwell's popularity, it does make for an American fighter against arguably the best fighter in the world. How would he do against someone like Fedor? Rothwell has been primarily fighting standup fighters with the exception of Ricco Rodriguez, who had his takedown game completely nullified for most of the fight. Fedor is a different story.
For the most part, Fedor should be able to put Rothwell down and defeat him via submission just like all the other bigger heavyweights he's defeated in the past. There really is nothing Rothwell does that is special.
European expansion
M-1 plans on holding an event in the Netherlands called M-1 Global Challenge that will be in conjunction with SLAMM, a kickboxing promotion in the country. According to the article, a 20 bout mega-show will take place with M-1 Global's name on the bill. The event will hold a K-1 portion and a MMA portion.
The names on the MMA card definitely give fans some interest. Gegard Mousasi (18-2) is a crushing Middleweight fighter who should definitely be in a major promotion like the UFC. M-1 has picked him up, however, and will have him headline the Global Challenge MMA card against Dave Dalgiliesh at Light Heavyweight. It'll be intriguing to see if Mousasi's extra weight will affect his speed.
Although grabbing up the talent in Europe is a good approach to tapping a resource that the UFC hasn't dipped into very deeply, the level of skill from German fighters hasn't been that impressive in the past. Even some of the fighters on the bill are exactly primed for major upsets of top talent in the world. Of course, we can state the obvious. The more exposure, the more interest, and the more interest brings more opportunities for those fighters to be invited to train somewhere else.
The one prevailing idea about international talent floating around is that since the UFC has such a strong base in the U.S. and U.S. camps are seeing many fighters come to their gyms to learn the wrestling base that is so relied upon in MMA, the UFC really does have a hold on international fighters as well as indirectly as it seems right now. Hopefully M-1 Global won't lose their talent to those camps and subsequently having fighters go to the UFC.