This week on No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discussed the M-1 Selection Americas Semifinals, which were held August 7 at Bally’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This event has helped establish M-1 Global as yet another major mixed martial arts promotion in America.

Goldman interviewed M-1 Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan, and three of the victorious fighters: light heavyweights Byron Byrd and Daniel Vizcaya, and heavyweight Kenny “Deuce” Garner.

Also included an excerpt from the news conference with Fedor Emelianenko, his manager Vadim Finkelchtein, and Evgeni Kogan. Video of the entire press conference is expected to be posted online shortly.

In the discussion with Evgeni Kogan, he explained how M-1 Global is using this structure of regional tournaments around the world to find “the next big thing”, what to expect from rising star and M-1 fighter Magomed Shikhshabekov of Russia, plans for more joint M-1 Global-Strikeforce shows, plans for the next fights for Fedor Emelianenko, why it is “more than likely” that the M-1 Global-Strikeforce relationship will continue “long into the future”, why Fedor will be fighting and appearing in the U.S. much more in the near future, and more.

The interviews with the victorious fighters had them review their wins, discuss their histories and techniques, and introduce themselves to those who have not yet seen them fight.

These semifinal fights were eliminators for the M-1 Selection Americas Finals, which will be held Saturday, September 18, 2010, also at Bally’s in Atlantic City. The winners will become the M-1 Selection 2010 Champions in their respective weight classes.