Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch some shots of Fedor Emelianenko training this past June in Russia for his fight with Fabricio Werdum. The video also offers of the training facilities available to the Russian star in his home town of Stary Oskal, Russia. The sound track wouldn’t be our first pick, but hey, it’s Russia!

HESKETT NAMED WRESTLING COACHFormer Ohio State Assistant, Four-Time All-American Joins Black Knights
 
WEST POINT, N.Y.  – Joe Heskett, a four-time All-American, national champion and former U.S. World Team member who spent the past four years as an assistant at Ohio State University, has been named the head wrestling coach at Army Athletics Director Kevin Anderson announced.Heskett, a 2001 graduate of Iowa State University, replaces Chuck Barbee who resigned following his 10th season to pursue other interests.
 
“I am very excited to have one of the young talents in collegiate wrestling as our head coach,” said Anderson. “Joe comes highly recommended from Athletic Director of the Year Gene Smith of Ohio State has unmatched credentials on the mat and his passion and dedication to the sport should pay immediate dividends. He has continued to advance his career and we are confident he can lead us to wins over Navy, EIWA Championships and national qualifiers.”
 
Heskett, who won the 165-pound national championship in 2002, is the ninth head coach in program history.
 
"Life will often surprise us with outstanding opportunities,” said Heskett. “I am humbled and honored to be able to lead and represent the Army wrestling program. I am inspired by what West Point represents and I graciously accept the challenge to mentor and motivate the cadet-athletes, improve their technical and tactical skills on the mat and to beat Navy. I would like to thank my family, Kevin Anderson, the West Point search committee, specifically Associate Athletic Director Gene McIntyre for his time and energy and the entire USMA athletic department."
 
Heskett, the eighth four-time All-American at Iowa State, graduated with a degree in speech communications and a career record of 143-9.
 
He was a three-time national finalist, winning one championship and finishing second and third. Heskett captured three Big 12 Championships, won the prestigious Midlands event on three occasions and graduated third on Iowa State’s all-time wins list.
 
Following his decorated collegiate career, Heskett earned a spot on the 2007 U.S. World Team after winning the U.S. Nationals and U.S. World Team Trials. He represented the United States at the ’07 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan with a fifth-place finish. He dropped a tough, three-period battle with a two-time world champion from Russia in the semifinals before wrestling back to finish fifth and was one of five wrestlers to qualify at his weight for the Olympics. Earlier that summer, he won a silver medal at 163 pounds at the 2007 Pan American Games.Less than a week after returning from the World Championships, Heskett was forced to retire from competitive wrestling due to an injury and joined the Ohio State staff.Hired as the volunteer assistant in 2006, Heskett was training for the Olympics while assisting in recruiting, team academic support, cultivating donor and alumni relations and other operational duties. Shortly after his competitive retirement, he was promoted to full-time assistant on Tom Ryan’s staff as the chief recruiter. In addition to his work on the mat, Heskett also assumed responsibility for practice plans, academic progress and community service initiatives.
 
During his tenure at Ohio State, Heskett helped the Buckeyes to four top-10 team finishes at the NCAA Tournament, three NCAA champions and 15 All-Americans. He played a large role in securing the nation’s top recruiting class in 2006 and helped sign a host of top prospects.
 
Heskett began his coaching career at Cal Poly University where he was the head assistant wrestling coach an also earned his master’s degree with honors in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Athletic Administration. He assisted in all facets of the program, including fundraising, and helped the Mustangs to their highest NCAA placement in nearly 20 years.
 
Leadership and leadership training is another passion of Heskett’s. He was Iowa State’s representative at the NCAA Leadership Conference, a board member of the Children’s Body Image, a former member of the Major Ray Mendoza Leadership Fund and an Ambassador and Public Awareness Speaker for the Ohio State Medical Center. He is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer for h Leadership in Columbus, Ohio, a firm with an array of industry expertsA native of Akron, Ohio, Heskett and his wife Tara have two daughters, Olivia and Ava, and are expecting a son in late July. They will reside at West Point.

M-1 Global’s Vadim Finkelstein is pulling no punches in telling both Strikeforce and the MMA world that his number one fighter, Fedor Emelianenko is ready and will fight in either October or November, regardless of what Scott Coker(CEO of Strikeforce) wants. Finkelstein certainly took a very direct approach when talking to LowKick about a potential Fedor Vs. Werdum fight as opposed to Fedor Vs. Overeem:

“We are ready to fight against anyone, but everyone agrees that the most interesting fight right now is the rematch against Fabricio Werdum. We have one fight left on our contract, so if Strikeforce want to extend it – they should listen to our opinion. Fedor will fight again sometime between October and November. I’ll repeat that again: the only thing fans want to see is Fedor vs Werdum II. Fabricio himself said that he would like to rematch Fedor in Russia. It’s great, but this fight will not happen in Russia…. I can really feel that the rating makers on the US websites really wanted Fedor Emelianenko to suffer from his first “real” defeat. They now have Fedor on the Third Place, and the first is Brock Lesnar. Question: Who’s Brock Lesnar? He has only five professional fights, and one defeat. He is a marketable fighter because of his WWE past. They sell-out 60,000 stadiums for that crap, which no one would even consider watching in Russia. That’s why Brock Lesnar is popular. As for Fedor, he is not a marketable fighter – he’s just the best. He destroyed everyone during 10 years. He has 31 victories.”

Very direct words indeed, and you gotta love the he’s just the best line. Seems like M-1 is turning up the heat for a rematch and an attempt to clear the blemish from Fedor’s record.

Here is some more video of the Deadlift Battle of Champions 2010 Arkhangelsk, Russia.

In the opening moments of his main event bout against Fedor Emelianenko, Brazilian heavyweight Fabricio Werdum almost appeared to get knocked down by a punch.

Werdum talked with Tatame.com about that punch and clarified what happened.

Did his punch caused a knockdown or did you lose your balance and fall?
It wasn’t a knockdown, it was more like I lost my balance because of the punch, but I’d go for the ground anyway, so I felt on the ground wanting to go there. It wasn’t a knockdown, not at all. I felt the blow, but it wasn’t that strong, I just lost my balance.

On that moment that you felt, did you already try to pull him to your guard?
We don’t think about being hit and going to the ground, but when you get hit by him, even if you are a Muay Thai fighter and have a good standing game strategy, it’s good for you to go to the ground and try to work it on there. The strategy was to calm him down and make some space so that I could work.

Werdum also noted that a rematch is still up in the air at the moment, which he’s fine with as he just wants to enjoy the moment of his victory.

After the fight you complimented Fedor and said you would like a rematch with him. Did (Strikeforce) say anything about that matter after the event?
No, they told me they’d see, so let’s enjoy this win and maybe they’ll put me to confront Overeem, but let’s see. I just beat the best of the world, I don’t want to give a step backwards and fight against Overeem. I want to fight against Fedor from 6 to 8 months from now in Russia, Rocky Balboa style.

In the opening moments of his main event bout against Fedor Emelianenko, Brazilian heavyweight Fabricio Werdum almost appeared to get knocked down by a punch.

Werdum talked with Tatame.com about that punch and clarified what happened.

Did his punch caused a knockdown or did you lose your balance and fall?
It wasn’t a knockdown, it was more like I lost my balance because of the punch, but I’d go for the ground anyway, so I felt on the ground wanting to go there. It wasn’t a knockdown, not at all. I felt the blow, but it wasn’t that strong, I just lost my balance.

On that moment that you felt, did you already try to pull him to your guard?
We don’t think about being hit and going to the ground, but when you get hit by him, even if you are a Muay Thai fighter and have a good standing game strategy, it’s good for you to go to the ground and try to work it on there. The strategy was to calm him down and make some space so that I could work.

Werdum also noted that a rematch is still up in the air at the moment, which he’s fine with as he just wants to enjoy the moment of his victory.

After the fight you complimented Fedor and said you would like a rematch with him. Did (Strikeforce) say anything about that matter after the event?
No, they told me they’d see, so let’s enjoy this win and maybe they’ll put me to confront Overeem, but let’s see. I just beat the best of the world, I don’t want to give a step backwards and fight against Overeem. I want to fight against Fedor from 6 to 8 months from now in Russia, Rocky Balboa style.

To follow is a very cool video recap of the unsanctioned Super Cup of Titans, which is held every year in St. Petersburg, Russia. This year's winner (Andrey Malanichev) was awarded $11,300. According to the meet director, "Once a year the strongest men of the planet get together to find out who is the strongest one...

Starting June 28, M-1 Global, home of the world’s most dangerous fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, is launching its search to find Europe’s top ring girls to sport the M-1 brand and want North America’s fan-feedback in choosing the winners. Go to www.m-1ringgirls.com between June 28-July 12 to vote and make your voice heard.

“Our North American fan base is extremely important to us and we wanted to ensure they were able to participate in the voting process,” says M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan. “The submissions for our ring girl contest have been through the roof and this is shaping up to one of our most successful promotions to date.”

Between June 28 – July 12, M-1 Global’s “Queen of the Ring” ring girl search will undertake seven preliminary elimination voting stages with a new group of contestants being posted to

www.m-1ringgirls.com every two days. The winners from each round will advance to the final selections with the top 10 ring girls being showcased live at the M-1 Selection 2010 – Eastern Europe Final Round on July 22 in Moscow, Russia and as part of the reality show, M-1 Fighter coming later this year.

About M-1 Global:

Founded in 1998 by Vadim Finkelchtein and Sergey Matvienko, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand stages its M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Breakthrough events worldwide and its co-produced Strikeforce events in the United States; captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups.

Starting June 28, M-1 Global, home of the world’s most dangerous fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, is launching its search to find Europe’s top ring girls to sport the M-1 brand and want North America’s fan-feedback in choosing the winners. Go to www.m-1ringgirls.com between June 28-July 12 to vote and make your voice heard.

“Our North American fan base is extremely important to us and we wanted to ensure they were able to participate in the voting process,” says M-1 Global’s Director of Operations, Evgeni Kogan. “The submissions for our ring girl contest have been through the roof and this is shaping up to one of our most successful promotions to date.”

Between June 28 – July 12, M-1 Global’s “Queen of the Ring” ring girl search will undertake seven preliminary elimination voting stages with a new group of contestants being posted to

www.m-1ringgirls.com every two days. The winners from each round will advance to the final selections with the top 10 ring girls being showcased live at the M-1 Selection 2010 – Eastern Europe Final Round on July 22 in Moscow, Russia and as part of the reality show, M-1 Fighter coming later this year.

About M-1 Global:

Founded in 1998 by Vadim Finkelchtein and Sergey Matvienko, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand stages its M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Breakthrough events worldwide and its co-produced Strikeforce events in the United States; captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups.

A new Cash Meet “out-of-federations” tournament will start on June 26 in Arkhangelsk, Russia. It is a raw tournament, and only wrist wraps and a belt are allowed. Competitors are allowed 4 attempts, and the competition is limited to 10 participants. Total cash to be given away is over 11,000 U.S. dollars. Below is a list of the HUGE lineup that features some of the absolute best Russian powerlifters; as well as videos promoting the event, a link to the live stream, and more.