*Please note that Fedor’s answers below were translated by Steve Bash of M-1 Global
Donald Trump, Jr: Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be on the phone with everyone here and to be a part of Affliction and the fight that we’re putting on next Saturday. You know as we all know Fedor’s done an incredible job going through the ranks of all the champions in this sport and has really proven to myself and to frankly everyone else that watches the sport what a competitor he is. I think Andrei is also a great fighter and we’re really excited to put on this show. It’s going to be phenomenal. We are just excited about our entrance into the MMA world, a sport that I’ve had the great fortune of following from the very early stages following my father as a kid probably in early elementary school going to these fights. Perhaps a little bit unconventional but always a lot of fun. To be dealing with the best in the world in anything is always a pleasure. So just watching Fedor do his thing to put on these fights with this group, we really look forward to making a big statement in the MMA world. Coming up through the ranks, obviously paying our dues because we are new to this. And we don’t have the hubris to assume that we know everything, but we’re doing the best we can to really stack the odds in our favor, associate with the best people in the industry. Again with Fedor and M-1, with Golden Boy, obviously with the Affliction people and the Trump Organization, and so really excited to put on this show. Hope you guys all enjoy it and with that we’ll turn it over to the guy you really want to hear from in this case, Fedor Emelianenko.
Tom Atencio: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. Thank you for your support and we are very fortunate to have a rare occurrence in a conversation with Fedor. We all know he is a little difficult to get a hold of and so I’ll turn it over to him now.
Fedor: Well thank you very much to that everyone has gathered today for this conference on the phone. I’m more than happy to answer any of your questions.
Question: Mr. Trump, do you think the UFC brass can maintain their top dog status with no help needed, no competition out there can touch us mentality in the long run if Affliction and M-1 Global start to make really big waves in the industry specifically.
Donald Trump, Jr.: No, I don’t think so and I think obviously they recognize, the quality of our fighters especially Fedor but certainly Josh, Andrei, many of the other guys that are coming over to us. So I think frankly one of the mottos that we’ve taken when we started getting into this sport and looking at it is we want to put on a great show for our fans, for the spectators and when you only have a one horse race you tend to lose sight of that. So I think if anything what we’ll be and what we’ll bring to the sport is just enhanced events, better events obviously with the guys from M-1 again, with Golden Boy we’re really trying to stack, the best people in the fight industry to you know, really put on some great shows. And so, again that’s not going to mean putting on 20 shows a year and just kind of throwing some cards out there hoping to get a couple people to watch. It’s going to be putting on incredible shows at appropriate times, obviously taking into consideration, that the economy is not what it used to be.We want to make sure that we always stick to the motto of putting on a great show, making sure that we’re increasing our fan base, giving them the show that they want to see, and when we do that they’re going to return that loyalty and watch our fight. So I think we have a great base to start with.
We have the best fighters in the world, and it’s going to be a great thing, but I I don’t want to make assumptions for anyone else, but I don’t think it’s a good business model to assume that you can always be the only guy in town when you’re up against, the kind of team that we’ve put together and the fighters that we have in our ring.
Q: Fedor, you’ve been with some very big organizations over the years in this sport and you’ve been able to benefit a great deal from co-promotions like this one so, I’m just curious as to what you think about why UFC continuously refused to co-promote and as a result hasn’t brought you in or anything.
Fedor: I think it would certainly be better for the sport and for the evolution of the sport if the UFC were to work with other organizations but you know, who knows what’s on their mind and what their thoughts are about that and that’s, you know, that’s their business and it’s up to them.
Q: A question for Fedor. Freddie Roach questioned your boxing skills and I’m wondering if you are aware that Freddie said that and if you do, what do you think about those comments?
Fedor: Well he’s a boxing trainer and he’s entitled to his opinion with respect to what he feels about boxing skills. I know that I don’t have a perfect boxing style and I know certain flaws that I have and I’ll work on those and so it is what it is.
Q: And a question for Tom. We’re about ten days out now and I just wondered how things are going for you, is it tiring? Are you extremely excited? Just kind of summarize your feelings.
Tom Atencio: You know things are going extremely well. Ticket sales are going well. We just opened up the seating on the floor as well as the arena we opened it up more. We are working hard, its 15-18 hour days but you’re not really tired. When you’re doing something you love, it doesn’t really seem like work when you completely enjoy it so, I’m like a little kid in a candy store, it’s a dream come true and I’m just, I’m enjoying every bit of it.
Q: Hello. I have one question for Fedor and two for Tom. Fedor, you have a championship belt now. I was wondering if you actually kept that with you at training or if you keep it somewhere else and what do you think of it compared to other belts you’ve held in your career?
Fedor: To be honest with you it’s a great honor but I don’t put so much significance on the belts to carrying them around with me everywhere I go. Most of my previous belts that, and championship belts that I’ve earned I keep at the sports school where young kids can kind of look at them and aspire to to get to a certain level one day. This particular belt I left in Tom’s good hands in America and honestly one of the reasons is because it’s a very heavy belt so it’s very difficult to carry around.
Q: Tom that must be quite an honor for you, if Affliction is around say, three, four, five years from now, where would you see the fighters coming from or do you have any plans to develop younger fighters?
Tom Atencio: Well I think we’ve already started that and that’s the beauty of teaming up with M-1 Global, they are basically our farm system if you will, but it’s not just a U.S. farm system it’s a global farm system. That’s something that Fedor is a part of and obviously we have Kiril Sidellnikov, they call him “Baby Fedor” and he’s been part of M-1 Global. So we’re absolutely looking into that and we’re looking at the future, we’re looking into being here from you know, two years, five years, ten years down the line. But right now we’re just focusing on this event and once we’re done with this one we’ll look at the next event.
Q: And finally wanted to ask about your t-shirt business and how it’s doing in this tough economy and also if you saw that someone wore an Affliction shirt in the American Idol auditions last night.
Tom Atencio: I did not see that but the clothing business is doing well. I know I’ve been called the t-shirt guy before but we don’t, we don’t only do t-shirts we do, we have a full top tier brand of clothing, but we’re doing well and we’re definitely pushing forward, I definitely thank our lucky starts we are doing extremely well still.
Q: Andrei compared Fedor to Mike Tyson as far as an intimidation factor and I was wondering if Fedor, you ever felt that any opponent you faced was intimidated before getting in the ring with you.
Fedor: To be honest with you I don’t put too much thought into it and don’t worry about it too much. I’m completely concentrated on my preparation and how I’m feeling and not too much on my opponents’ emotions.
Q: Okay so, if I could have a follow-up, can you tell if your opponent is confident when they face you or, I guess by your answer it almost sounds like he doesn’t care or he doesn’t really think about that too much?
Fedor: No I don’t pay too much attention to it before the fight or even right as the fight begins. During the fight when my opponent is in a position of weakness or struggle that’s when I usually feel you know, whether they’re ready to go.
Q: What do you think Andrei’s strengths and weaknesses are?
Fedor: Well Andrei is one of the best fighters in the world today. He’s a very dangerous opponent and what will make it so dangerous and what makes preparing for him so difficult is that he’s one of the most well rounded fighters in MMA in the world. And with respect to his weaknesses thats something that we have to wait and see and see what happens in the ring and take advantage of any weaknesses that exist.
Q: I have three quick questions for Fedor. Fedor, someone that was in the locker room area with you before your last fight told me how astonished they were by something they witnessed, and that was according to him before the fight you simply stood up from a game of cards, and walked out into the ring without warming up or breaking a sweat and I think those familiar with the fight game realized you know, how remarkable it is that you just to go out there without breaking much of a sweat or warm up and then of course finish someone in 36 seconds. How do you explain that ability?
Fedor: No that’s not an accurate account of what happened. I don’t come into the fight cold and I’m very professional, I come into the fight completely stretched out and completely worked out and I do certain things just like anybody else does to prepare for the fight as if it’s every fight is the most difficult fight of my life. The timing of what that recollection is a little bit off from what you heard.
Q: Thank you. Are you on the inside as calm during as during the fights as it seems to observers? Or is that just the way it ends up looking?
Fedor: I’m calm both inside and outside of the ring.
Q: One quick follow-up on that. Have you always had that ability to be calm in the ring or is that something that throughout your career that you’ve gotten better at? Some fighters that have that ability and some competitors that I’ve spoken with in the past, weren’t always that way. When they were younger they worked harder to control their emotions, so I’m just curious if that’s something that’s you’ve always been able to have in your professional career or if it’s something you’ve developed and if so when you felt that turning point was?
Fedor: It’s just like any sport or any athlete that goes through his career. It’s something that comes with time. It’s for me its part of the training process.When I’m in training camp, one of the things that I work on very much is controlling my emotions.Earlier in my career I worried a lot more and then I got a lot more nervous and the emotions were much less controllable. And there wasn’t any particular fight or any particular moment when I got more control over it. It was a step by step process throughout my career where every time I train for another fight and every time I go through certain things I put more emphasis on that as part of the training process.
Q: Fedor, I’m sure you’ve been watching a lot tapes now of Andrei Arlovski. How do you compare his striking ability to some of the best strikers you’ve faced in the past?
Fedor: Well, Andrei is a different type of fighter, but he’s not any less dangerous. You know a lot of guys have their signatures moves and their signature strengths. Andrei doesn’t have the best submission skills compared to some of the guys. But the thing about Andrei is that he’s so well rounded that he could potentially hurt you because he’s capable of doing. So there arel very different types of fighters. But certainly with respect to his striking skills, he’s not on any less of a level than some of the best strikers I’ve been in the ring with.
Q: Okay thanks. And a question for Tom. Heading into your second event here, do you have any benchmarks or goals for what would constitute a successful event for you as you head into it?
Tom Atencio: Well yes, I mean of course. If we do as well or better than our last show in the arena as well as the pay per view market, then yes, absolutely. I know we’ll do extremely well and I’ll be very happy.So yes, I mean just little goals but just getting through this event. You know, I think that most people don’t understand this is only our second event. People seem to view this as, maybe our fourth or fifth event. But in reality it’s just our second event. And the first one, I thought was very successful.So yes, if we reach those I’ll be very happy.
Q: Tom there’s been a little bit of talk about getting sanctioned in the state of New York recently. And I wanted to ask you if you had any thoughts on that and if the guys at Trump were helping at all lobby for that?
Tom Atencio: You know, right now, as I always say, I’m focusing on this next event. And that’s what I’m doing. Once I get past this, then we’ll start looking at other areas and other venues.I would love to see it be legal in New York. I think that New York needs it. And I think that, to be at Madison Square Garden would be an honor.But right now, I’m focusing on this event. And, once again, once I get past this, then we can definitely start talking and figuring out where we’re going to go from here.
Q: All right, cool. I wanted to ask Vadim Finkelchtein (President, M-1 Global) if he had any guys – I know that he’s kind of tried to bring up some of the younger guys at Fedor’s camp and if there are any that are going to fight in Affliction or number one that we should be on the lookout for?
Vadim Finkelchtein: Yes, we’ve got a lot of guys that have worked with Fedor and also just guys that have worked with, other training camps that will be seen on Affliction shows in the future.On this particular show, Kiril Sidellnikov, Baby Fedor, he’s Fedor’s prot