Major Korean MMA Promotion Announced, Aleksander and Ivanov Attached

It's been 8 months since the last Spirit MC show was held and Korea has been in a serious drought with regards to professional MMA. But that'll change soon, according to Kamipro.

Fighter Mania Championship (FMC) announced its formation via Korean news site MFIGHT on Thursday, along with plans to hold its first event in Seoul this September. FMC said it aims to be to Korea what PRIDE was to Japan and the UFC is to America, and plans on holding events throughout South Korea every 2-3 months. The promotion apparently already has verbal commitments from Aleksander Emelianenko, Mu Bae Choi and the man who beat Fedor in Sambo, Blagoi Ivanov. Furthermore, FMC plans to hold amateur events beginning in July to build up its domestic talent pool.

The Kamipro article also has an unattributed quote stating that FMC is interested in negotiating with Jerome Le Banner, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Mark Hunt - all top stars under the FEG/K-1 brands. They are also in talks with Fedor and Aleks' younger brother, Ivan Emelianenko, regarding his MMA debut, and would one day like to have all three Emelianenko brothers fighting under their banner.

An interesting development to say the least. Stay tuned...