From Russia with Glove: M-1 Selection and the State of Russian MMA -- Part 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- “What are you eating that for?” asks Voronov, Fedor Emelianenko’s wrestling coach, as I walk back into the office at the headquarters of M-1 Challenge.

I guiltily look at the processed lattice fruit thing in my hand, executing an elegant parabola on a collision course with my mouth. Then I eat it anyway. I’m hungry, it’s 10 p.m. and the six teams of fighters, from all over Russia, staying at the M-1 training complex have rendered the fridge as empty as deep Siberia in December.

“There are ‘pelmeni’ (Russian meat dumplings) in the freezer,” says Mikhail Vladimirovich [Voronov]. “So go and make some for yourself and stop eating that rubbish!”

When Fedor’s coach tells you to do something, you listen.

M-1 Selection and the State of Russian MMA