Strikeforce: Fedor Emelianenko v. Brett Rogers - Media Conference Call Notes

Strikeforce week kicks off today with a media conference call.  Both main event participants will be on the call which starts at 2:00pm EST.

Updates from the call in the full entry.

- On the call, waiting for it to begin.

- Mitch Graham (CBS) starts the call off.  Fedor (via translator Tanya) and Rogers will both speak as well as Scott Coker.

- Brett is asked if Fedor's recent marriage means he is being taken lightly.  "As far as I'm concerned this isn't his first marriage, so he's a been there done that kind of dude.  He's a fighter and he knows what he needs to do to get ready..."

- Rogers says that this is a huge fight for him and he has been studying tape of Fedor to get a better handle on the fight.

- Brett says he has been training for three months and feels like he knows Fedor now.  He wants to keep his head straight and is going to wait for him to try to take him down since he can't stand with him.  Rogers also makes it clear that he is getting better on the ground game.

- Fedor is asked if he ever gets nervous before a fight.  "I'm not really nervous during the fight and before the fight.  One day before the fight I may be nervous.  I'm a human being obviously."

- Fedor says it was important to him to fight in Chicago because "there are a lot of Russian people now in Chicago."  and that he may do some sightseeing after the fight is over.

- "Would you have made a good American Football player?" is asked of Fedor.  "I found the football game interesting but the games which I watched on TV were more interesting and exciting."  "It seems to be easy watching from the sidelines but I don't think I would have enough energy to play, plus I don't know the rules very good"

- Rogers is hopeful that the fans cheer him since he is from the area.  He will have many fans coming to the fight to support him.  Fedor understands that Rogers may be a favorite since Chicago was Rogers' birthplace and he will treat this "with understanding."

- Somewhat out of nowhere Fedor brings up that he and Vadim think they deserved more than a one sided contract from the UFC.

- Beau from USA Today asks about the challenges of marketing Fedor in the UFC.  Scott Coker says that CBS helping them out with the ads are big.  "You have the #1 heavyweight in the world fighting the #6 heavyweight in the world"  "If Fedor were living in America we'd get him on a lot more shows but that isn't the case."

- Rogers is asked what his primary source of income was over the past three months.  "I don't work for Sam's Club anymore.  I'm a training machine."  "Right after the Arlovski fight I was getting all kinds of offers from movies, TV shows, sponsor-wise I'm getting all kinds of sponsors."

- Brett says his pre-fight ritual involves a lot of concentration and motivation.  It is very much a mental game to him.  He is fading in and out of the call he says because he keeps thinking about the fight.  The day of the fight he sleeps and then it's time to have fun and fight.

- In turn Fedor says that when he arrives in the U.S. he has some short workouts but mostly just relaxes and walks around the city.  The night before the fight he gets a massage from his coaches to help him sleep, medical exams and warming up to prep for the fight.

- Rogers talks about his new pitbull which he was able to get because he "has his own place now" and he joined up with knockoutdogfighting.com because he loves animals.

- Rogers says that he still is being underrated considering that he is such a massive underdog in this fight.  And when asked if he expects the fight to end quickly he simply said "yes"

- Scott Coker is asked if he has interest in Aleks Emelianenko and says "until he gets cleared by the commission, no"

- Fedor says he trains in the places he does rather than expensive gyms because he has been doing this since he was a kid and sees no reason to change what he does.

- Eddie Goldman chimes in with a legitimate question asking how Fedor intends to counter the power striking of Rogers.  "I watched his fight and I know Brett is very serious and strong opponent.  I just try to work and train and prepare the way I usually do."  Goldman then asks how fighting in the cage will affect his striking and submission game.  Fedor does not feel that his techniques depend on the surroundings.

- Goldman asks one more question, this time asking Brett if the cage is an advantage for him.  "It is different fighting in a ring from a cage.  It is going to matter when it comes to being used to ducking out through the ring" and "i can use this to my advantage"

- Rogers makes it clear that he wants to get Fedor backing up.

- Coker said that the building holds 12,000 and they are at 85% sales with an expectation of a sellout by Saturday.

- Rogers knew that he would get a shot at Fedor starting with the folding of Affliction and then when the UFC dealings with Fedor fell through.  Brett sat down with his coaches and decided that now is the right time to take on the challenge.

- Josh Gross asks what M-1 has done to help sell this card.  Coker says that M-1's role and responsibility was to bring Fedor and let Strikeforce do what they do.  M-1 was responsible for doing international promotion.  The fight will be airing on the Russian National Network, Bravo in the UK, Korea, Japan and many other countries.

- "Coming from nothing and wanting to be something...a lot" is what Rogers says makes him the man to beat Fedor.

- Rogers says he was offered a spot on Bully Beatdown but turned it down because he was worried about the Fedor fight.  He would still like to do it.  He also says he was offered a chance to try out for the A-Team.

- When Rogers closes his eyes he sees Fedor knocked out.

- Some kid just asked Rogers for training tips.  Which is really lame.

- Rogers still plans on calling out Overeem, suggesting that he'll be doing it after beating Fedor.

- Coker says that they're not a T-shirt company or betting company so they can handle paying for Fedor to fight since it is their core business.

- Fedor says that he has only ever seen a bear in the zoo and a bear is very strong and is very hard to kill with a fork and knife...this coming after being asked about the Aleks story of killing a bear with a fork and knife.

- The call is over