"In it's own way this [series] will be a great, great success," Trump said. "This will be something that's going to be exciting, it's going to be special. Fedor is a great guy, a tough guy and is what everybody wants to see, and we have him."
The show will bring in 16 heavyweights from around the world to St. Petersburg, Russia, where they will train with Fedor's camp, the Red Devil Sports Club. Each week contestants will battle it out in an elimination tournament with the winner earning a shot against Fedor, most likely on a future Affliction pay-per-view.
Former PRIDE USA president and current M-1 Global vice president Jerry Millen helped develop the series when he was hired by Fedor's manager after the sale of PRIDE to the UFC.
"I felt that Fedor needed a vehicle because the American audience doesn't really know Fedor the person. They might see him as a fighter but there's two totally different dynamics there," Millen told MMAFighting.com. "So what would be a great vehicle for him? And I thought, you know it's hard to find competition for Fedor because he pretty much smashes everybody. So I thought why not give the average MMA fighter the chance to maybe fight Fedor, cause you never know. It's like the 'Rocky' challenge of our times, in that the average joe/MMA fighter can earn a spot on the show."
Recruitment for the show will begin shortly, but Millen said there's already some heavyweights they have in mind for the show.
"We're getting contacted by quite a few people. Some names you'll be surprised," Millen said.
The show, which begins filming in April 2009, is still being shopped around. The earliest the show could air is June 2009.
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