Mike Brown talks BodogFIGHT

By Keith Mills

BodogFIGHT’s second season which was taped in Russia in December is airing right now on the ION netwok.. Europe in general is the next front line in the battle of the big shows with not only BodogFIGHT entering the region but also UFC opening an office in the UK and IFL starting teams in London and France. So far neither European IFL team has competed and the first fight of German Denis Siver for the UFC is April. BodogFIGHT on the other hand BodogFIGHT have delved deeper into this traditionally K-1 and Pride territory, not only holding Season 2 in St. Petersburg and their next pay-per-view scheduled for April from Russia but also by booking far more European fighters on their cards now.

That being said it was two Americans fighting each other that are scheduled to kick off Season 2. Although as of this writing details on the fights are not available it is common knowledge on the net that Mike Brown fought Yves Edwards. Yves is a UFC and Pride vet known for his striking skills in the Lightweight division. Mike is also a UFC vet as well as the AFC 145 pound Champion who fights out of American Top Team. The difference not only in their weight classes is Yves has fought many of the top-rnaked Lightweights in the world while Mike has had much fewer opportunities at 145 pounds. Although Mike has fought at Lightweight twice before he was not successful, losing to Hermes Franca and Genki Sudo. Now Mike goes up in weight a third time, this time to face one of the best Lightweights in the world in Yves Edwards.

In the ADCC News archives are multiple updates with both Yves and Mike. A photo gallery from Mike’s last fight before BodogFIGHT is posted at http://malarky.udel.edu/~keith/2006/AFC/afc10210610.htm while a gallery from his title defense last August is posted at http://malarky.udel.edu/~keith/2006/AFC/afc08260611.htm.

Check out http://www.bodogfight.com/ for information on Season 2 air dates.

KM: What was fighting in BodogFIGHT like for you?
MB: It is probably the nicest show I have ever fought in. It was cool because there was a lot of TV stuff, a lot of production to it. Every day we were doing interviews and filming weird stuff like shadow boxing in the streets of Russia and stuff like that. It was different, a neat experience I’ve never done before. It was kind of like the UFC where you felt it was important whereas a lot of little shows you feel it is not that big a deal. You felt it was an important thing and people were going to be watching, that you are a part of something.

KM: I think of BodogFIGHT as similar to AOL/Time/Warner where it is one umbrella but several different companies still learning to work together. They have the old MFC people, the television people, record label people, etc. You have fought in UFC, AFC, Japan, and accompanied ATT fighters all over. Can you put BodogFIGHT in perspective with what fans are used to?
MB: To me it seemed like it was huge. They have so many people doing so many things flying to Russia and there weren’t any Russians really on the card. Flying people from all over the world to fight each other and there wasn’t even anybody really there because it was all taped for TV. These guys are huge if they can afford to do that, they are not messing around. I think they are going to do very well in the not-too-far future.

KM: The Berlin Wall coming down in 1989 for the most part marked the end of the Cold War between the US and Russia. Most of the decision makers and trainers involved in BodogFIGHT were drinking age or at least voting/military service age at that time so became aware of the world in the context of the Cold War. You were barely old enough to shave. My point is what does being an American fighting in Russia really mean to someone your age? Was it a glorified vacation or something life-defining?
MB: I thought it was cool to travel, see some of the country, and meet some of the people over there. I hadn’t been to that area of the world before. I thought it was strange the people were un-welcoming. We’d go into a grocery store to buy food and it was like they didn’t want to help you, didn’t want you to be there. They kind of stared at you like ‘what are you doing here?’

KM: When you were out there BodogFIGHT were on top of the world. They were coming off the first TV season, pay-per-view, and announced Fedor fighting Monson. Since then hardly any word has come out about the Russian season and the Fedor fight is moved back from March to April while UFC signed the #2 Heavyweight Cro-Cop and Fedor re-signed with Pride. It seems the news is going elsewhere while we wait for Season 2. Are BodogFIGHT off the honeymoon?
MB: Fedor is still fighting Monson. Fedor fighting there is going to be huge, even if he is going to be locked into Pride for a while. If Fedor was in the UFC everybody would be going crazy. It is one of the best shows in the world, right up there with UFC and Pride.

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