NEW YORK -- Monte Cox was wearing a suit.
The conference was M-1 Global's introduction to the world. To longtime MMA followers, nothing stood out more than Cox's glistening red tie.
"If you don't think this is a big deal," he said, "look what I'm wearing."
Since the early years of the sport, Cox has been darting around the world as a manager and as a promoter. He's gone almost everywhere MMA has. But not in a suit.
Ten weeks ago he was working on his next Extreme Challenge event, a regional promotion he started in 1996. Now he is the CEO and president of M-1 Global.
"The last press conference I called, I couldn't get my family to come," he joked. "This is awesome."
Cox, who manages Sean Sherk (Pictures) and Tim Sylvia (Pictures) among others, had been offered jobs with numerous promotions over the years. He never accepted. He was doing just fine managing his roster of nearly 60 fighters and promoting his own shows.
An initial meeting with his current coworkers had gone well -- they had money, means and more -- but Cox wasn't ready to leap on board. Instead he threw down a challenge, which the company now called M-1 Global conquered.
"Get Fedor," Cox had said. "And I'm in."
They got the Russian, and now they have the American.
Fedor, said Cox, is the type of fighter who can carry a company. "If I can't take a star like [Fedor] and help move an organization up, then I'm not doing my job," Cox said. "I really think with my background and experience, and Fedor, I think we can make this happen."
M-1 Global's success will likely depend on whether it can build Fedor into a star in the United States. Cox's role with the company will include a little of everything, from matchmaking to finding locations for events to general advising. He'll have a heavy hand in Fedor's future.
"Our goal is to make him a household name," Cox said, adding that M-1 Global will have a TV deal -- "no doubt about it."
Of course, MMA is a sport made for upsets. Having any single fighter as the face of an entire organization is risky, and selecting opponents can be a careful business.
"Well," Cox said of Fedor's future opposition, "I'm fighting him first."
Cox has discussed potential opponents with Fedor and his manager, Vadim Finkelchtein. The Russians didn't want any walkovers, Cox said, even though weak adversaries are ingredients often used in building a star.
"I may have to save you from yourselves," Cox told them.
Yet he also understood their reasoning. Fedor is widely accepted as the best in the world. Why go backward, fighting bums?
"We're looking for the best opponents that are available," Cox said, before aiming an invisible finger at UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture (Pictures). "I heard there are a couple [fighters] maybe coming free. I don't know, just a rumor."
Despite the tease, Cox is careful not to compare M-1 Global to the UFC. "I'm not saying we're going to be as big as the UFC," he said. "Everyone that does that ends up looking stupid. … I'm just saying we can put together an entertaining show, a quality show with good fights, and we can making money doing it."
M-1 Global's plan to allow fighters to compete outside the promotion contrasts with the exclusive contracts that the UFC uses with its top athletes. The strategy was a talking point Monday at the news conference, though Cox acknowledged that plenty of companies have blabbed about cross-promotion without doing it.
"If Fedor is our champion, it doesn't mean he can only fight guys in our organization," Cox said. "If Randy Couture (Pictures), for example, were still with the UFC, we would make an offer for Fedor to go to the UFC and fight Randy Couture (Pictures). We're not going to limit where [Fedor] can fight…. I think that's where MMA has to head. It has to go in that direction."
It makes sense for M-1 Global to work with other organizations, especially as a new promotion needing quality talent. But the UFC has the majority of the top fighters, including many that Cox manages, and Dana White won't share. Still it's probably wise for now to step around the MMA giant's toes.
In fact, Cox encountered the UFC president on Saturday at UFC 77. He said that White genuinely congratulated him on his new job, telling Cox that he did not "care that there are other organizations. I just don't want people disrespecting ours."
Cox may see White again at the next UFC and at the one after that. He will likely continue managing fighters in addition to his work with M-1 Global. Although his positions could be considered a conflict of interest, Cox said he has already discussed the matter with multiple athletic commissions.
"It kind of comes down to I can do what I want -- pretty much," he said. "I think I'll leave it up to the fighters. … Anybody that I bring over to M-1 Global has to be managed by somebody else. They'll understand that coming in. The rest of them, I just haven't really decided."
You could argue that Cox's roles will inevitably clash, perhaps to the detriment of his fighters, and therefore he should turn his clients over to another manager even if athletic commission do not force him. At the same time, Cox said, he does not use contracts with his fighters -- they are already free to go.
"This is how it all started 13 years ago, driving around a bunch of crazy fighters in my car," he said. "I have to tell you, it'd be heartbreaking to lose all that. I've had some of these guys since their very first fight."
Cox began as a manager, but he's played many additional parts through the years. Now he has picked up one more, and for it, occasionally, you will even see him in a suit.