M-1 Global's Jerry Millen: The UFC is not MMA; competition breeds success

[Guest baseball25]

This is guy is a idiot lol, Here are some comments about this article from other fans...

Competition breeds success in certain businesses, but rarely is the case with sports.  Who is competing with the NBA, NFL, NHL, etc?  NO BODY!!!  The UFC is the premiere organization and always will be, M-1 will go the way of eliteXC, Affliction, and countless other smaller promotions.  I understand more orgs equals opportunities for more fighters, but this is professional sports, not everyone who trains deserves to fight at the highest level for a living.  Every article this guy is in, he's just trying to ride the UFC's coat tails and put his name out there, pathetic really.  A week ago, he was trying to partner with the UFC!!! And people say Dana White is a hypocrite.

If this guy had said one thing that made sense, I would be OK with him. But he is just coming up with all this nonsense and calls Brock a Pro wrestler, calls Anderson Silva overhyped, and all that. The UFC didn't invent MMA. But they have done a lot of good work to get it to where it is here. Now this guy wants to come in and destroy the industry and he keeps saying M1 when these guys can't put their card up and running in California. They can't organize a simple event and they are UFC beaters?

M-1 Global, which was started in Russia by (current president) Vadim Finkelchtein – and Fedor's a big part of it now – they've been [promoting fights] a long time," Millen said. "Vadim does this for the love of the sport. Make no mistake that Vadim doesn't make his money from MMA. He's a businessman in Russia, and he loves the sport. He's not in it for the money."

As someone who followed Garry Kasparov's campaign in Russia, I can tell you that nobody gets rich and stays rich in Russia from doing "business." It's all corruption, mob-like business that gets people rich over there. And anyone against Putin goes to jail. Jerry Millen needs to stop talking about things he doesn't know. Vadim has lied to Mousasi, that's all over BloodyElbow. Is that how you want to build MMA? By lying? At least Dana is somewhat honest. He will counter program you, he'll bash you, but you know what you get with him. With Vadim, you get lies, deceit, and bad information. Yeah this guy is a major doucher.

Guys like M-1 is what makes boxing what it is today. you can't promote a single guy and then co promote for half the money of the company's revenue. Then you start to get mma cards like boxing cards where every single fighter on the card is irrelevant other than the main event. They are making overly ridiculous amounts of money. Have their record padded against Hong man chois and middleweights and washed up fighters.

It's a joke. Fedor is the Floyd Mayweather of MMA. Claims to be the pound for pound best but won't fight Pac-man?

Get out of here. Stop hiding behind your bloated record and fighting cans. This guys arguments are repetitive.  He was on the Scott Ferrall Show on Howard 101 the other night and said this same thing over and over again.  1.  The UFC has no "ranking" system.  They put on what they think will be the best and most lucrative fights.  2.  The rankings are done by journalists and web sites.  Regardless of what this lunatic thinks there is no such thing as manufactured.  He was downgrading Brock Lesnar saying "Dana White tells people to think he is a star, it's manufactured".  When in reality he went in the cage and destroyed Heath herring, Randy Couture, and Frank Mir.  Thjat is why he is popular.  He also was calling anyone who was stating Fedor was wrong for signing with Strikeforce a "UFC Nuthugger".  This is an executive calling fans who simply felt his client made a bad choice and his company is unreasonable. $0$0 $0 $0Lets also not forget that this guy was one of the lead negotiators for Mousassi's deal with Strikeforce, the one where Mousassi was lied to about how much the UFC was willing to pay him.$0 $0$0 $0 $0$0 $0

While the upcoming weekend features a host of tantalizing tussles at both "UFC 101: Declaration" and "WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles," it's difficult to deny the stir that has been created by Strikeforce's recent signing of Fedor Emelianenko and partnership with M-1 Global.

With UFC president Dana White recently going on the offensive against Strikeforce, a company for which he once held high praise, a high-stakes battle between the two organizations is likely to play out in the coming months.

In the second of his two-part conversation with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), M-1 Global vice president Jerry Millen says that's just fine.

"Competition breeds success," Millen said. "You have to have competition. There can't be a McDonald's without a Burger King.

"America was built on capitalism."

It's a concept that seems obvious to most entrepreneurs, but it is certainly one unfamiliar to most major sporting organizations – and many fans who simply want to see the world's best fighters meet in the cage.

Millen argues fighting is different, and one organization shouldn't have a hold on the sport of MMA.

"The thing is, there's room in the world for more than one big MMA company," Millen said. "There's a lot of rabid UFC fans out there, but people have got to remember, the UFC is not MMA. It's a brand of MMA, and they are not alone in the world.

"[The UFC] didn't invent the sport. Sure, they helped grow it. They've got great fighters. They've done a lot to expand the sport, which I think is great. But they didn't invent MMA."

While it is M-1 Global's drive for competition that will apparently prevent the much-demanded Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar heavyweight superfight, Millen insists the two-party system is necessary to prevent one organization from holding too much power over its employees – and prospective applicants.

"I know a lot of guys that have trained here locally," Millen said. "And the thing is, these guys have to work 10 hours a day trying to support their families, and they have a dream of being an MMA fighter. My problem is, OK, you want to be an MMA fighter, you go to the gym after work, you spend time away from your family because you have this dream. So what happens if the guys in the UFC don't see fit that you get any type of shot in the UFC? You could be the best fighter ever that's undiscovered. Is it up to the UFC to decide who gets that shot, every time? No. Absolutely not.

"There needs to be other organizations to give some of these guys that are busting their ass in the gyms a shot at showing what they can do. That's what I feel. People need a shot, and the more organizations there are that are successful, the more chances some of these guys that want to be professional fighters will get."

While some fans consider Millen and his M-1 Global peers akin to some type of MMA Antichrist, the exec swears his loyalties lie in what's best for the future of the sport as a whole.

"At the end of the day, true MMA fans have to look at this for what it is," Millen said. "If you want the sport to grow, you have to have other organizations. You have to have competition.

"For [the UFC] to say they have the world's best fighters, its not true. They have some of them, but their rankings are manufactured for the UFC. There's a lot of guys out there that are great fighters. There are fighters out there that will beat UFC champions. Will they get that chance in the UFC? I'm not sure. I know that Strikeforce and M-1 Global will give those fighters that chance if they want to compete. We're always open to working with other people."

For most observers, M-1 Global's motivations would seem to be simple in nature. As MMA's popularity continues to surge, why wouldn't M-1 Global executives want to use the one trump card they can – Emelianenko – to cash in?

Millen again insists it's imperative to dig deeper.

"M-1 Global, which was started in Russia by (current president) Vadim Finkelchtein – and Fedor's a big part of it now – they've been [promoting fights] a long time," Millen said. "Vadim does this for the love of the sport. Make no mistake that Vadim doesn't make his money from MMA. He's a businessman in Russia, and he loves the sport. He's not in it for the money."

M-1 Global will face an uphill battle in the court of public sentiment. Even the once seemingly secure Strikeforce has now been attacked by the sport's leading executive and questioned by fans around the world for a perhaps-questionable partnership.

But Millen insists despite the negativity he and his company often withstand, the organization wants nothing but the best for the still-growing sport of mixed martial arts.

"Obviously, teaming up with Strikeforce and Scott Coker, we're ecstatic about it," Millen said. "I think it's a great move. We all think it's a great move.

"I love the sport so much, and I know how big the sport can be. The sport has only scratched the surface. The UFC wants to wrap it up. They have a grasp on it now, but they're not going to hold that grasp forever. It's not possible."