Anatoliy Sulyanov, the head of Russian fist-fighting league Hardcore FC in a recent interview commented on the words of the president of American promotion Bare Knuckle FC David Feldman, who said that he is not interested in a joint tournament of the two organizations.
On top of that, Sulyanov talked with Telecom Asia Sport about the plans for his promotion to enter the world market in the next year.
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"Feldman is changing his mind on the go".
- Anatoliy, a few months ago, you offered the American league BKFC to hold a joint tournament in Mexico, and you were only interested in the legacy. You didn't ask for any profit from the tournament. Now the president of Bare Knuckle FC has declared that he is not interested in this idea. He doesn't see how a joint tournament can help his promotion grow. Considering the high level of fist-fighters in Russia, can we say that the Americans are simply scared?
- I find it ridiculous when the head of an organization, when offered an offer from the head of another organization with zero costs, starts making up some ridiculous stories about the 12-year legacy, and about not being interested. How can a confrontation between the two best leagues in the world be uninteresting? How can a media outlet that outsells "yours" tenfold be uninteresting?
We realize these are silly and childish excuses. Let them make a poll on whether BKFC viewers want to see a unified championship.
Apparently, Feldman and his matchmakers finally started watching Hardcore and realized the real level of our organization. And they realized the real level of their league, their champions, and their abilities. They realized that they were going to be blown out of the water. That's something that needs to be objectively understood. If you look at any of Bare Knuckle's championship fights... With all due respect, that's not even the level of the top 5 Hardcore's fighters.
Yes, they have certain transfers and play on big names, like Mike Perry vs. Michael "Venom" Page, or signing Chad Mendes. If we put him at 77 kilograms against Khaibula "Predator" Musalov, or put Luis Palomino at 70 kilograms against our champion Martin Juaryan, the American League representatives will be degraded, just like any current belt holders of the promotion.
In the United States, we're watched by about 12% of the total traffic. That's a huge number of people. Even 100,000 English-speaking people watching us is a serious number. And that's although many people in the United States don't understand fist fights. Bare Knuckle has realized that they are no longer alone on the global stage. The worst thing for them is that the level of their fighters is not even close to the level of our athletes.
- There was information about your joint tournament going around.
- We had several phone calls with Feldman, I even showed screenshots of our correspondence. We discussed the holding of the tournament in February or May 2023. We have all the evidence. Feldman realizes that he can lose the entire legacy he has been creating in an instant. He failed to attract professional athletes to the league, and failed to make a good competitive product in terms of showcases, PPVs and reality shows.
We're not asking for any royalties. We're willing to prove that we're here for a legacy. As for Feldman and his promotion... Apparently the feeling that things could quickly turn to ashes scares him. A month after our final negotiations, he's just changing his mind. It looks duplicitous and ridiculous. But I'll get back to negotiating with David about our event.
"Hardcore will hold tournaments in Mexico and Brazil."
- Bare Knuckle FC will launch its brand in Russia. Do you think its tournaments will be popular there? Or will Hardcore and Top Dog just steamroll it?
- Feldman contacted me about entering the Russian market a year ago. He suggested that Hardcore should become part of Bare Knuckle. We turned down that offer. There is a good example of the UFC brand in Russia. In our country, the local product takes off much better in the media market than outside products. What does Bare Knuckle have for entering our market? The guys from the American promotion have no chance against the Hardcore and Top Dog fighters.
- Speaking of your league, it's clear right now that the Bare Knuckle FC isn't interested in cooperation. Will you be expanding globally without the involvement of this promotion?
- Hardcore's international expansion has nothing to do with the joint tournament with BKFC. We've already applied for promotional licenses in the UAE. Also, this year, we have plans for holding at least one tournament in Thailand, an event in Mexico and maybe in Brazil.
Bare Knuckle just cleared the way for our global expansion. Soon people all over the world will realize this. No one will want to look at the second tier. And I think everyone fully understands the world's first tier right now.
"We're looking in the direction of Japan and China."
- Have you thought about entering the Asian market? There is an opinion that fist fights can become mega-popular in that region.
- We've studied the laws of many countries, like Thailand and Burma. If we're talking about the global solvent markets of China and Japan, the licensing of organizations there is pretty complicated. But, of course, we are looking in that direction as well. It is necessary to understand that no sport will be interesting to the audience without its established national heroes.
If we talk about entering this market, we need to start with the athletes, not the expansion. If we are talking about Mexico, Thailand and Brazil, we know that the first tournaments will receive at least ten thousand applications to participate in them. In Latin America, the martial arts culture is the second sport after soccer. In China, it's more problematic. Here we can take the birth of MMA in Russia as an example. The sport became popular in Russia because we had fighters like Fedor Emelianenko and Oleg Taktarov. And now there is also Khabib Nurmagomedov.
- What do you expect from the tournament in Moscow that will take place on September 24th?
- It's going to be an unbelievable feast of sport, great fights, and many emotions. Everyone is welcome. And for those who can't attend, we'll meet live on the federal channel.
