There’s a great interview of Finkelstein up at Sherdog. Finkelstein is the UFC equivalent in Russia and the owner of a promotion called M-1.
Apparently they did about 90% of the work for BodogFIGHT: St. Petersburg and Bodog took all the credit. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the interview and it goes to show that perceptions are the same worldwide:
Sherdog.com: Please discuss the perception of MMA in Russia, it is not a sport that is that well known, and what you are doing to change that.
VF: Much the same as it was in the US when it first started; MMA in Russia was initially vilified as thugs brawling without rules and was very much looked down upon. Videos of street fights and such were constantly shown and the sport suffered.We have worked very hard to legitimize MMA into a sport that is slowly becoming more and more popular and one that young people aspire to participate and compete in. We are going to show the event in the middle of the beautiful city center, with five million dollar yachts anchored around the ring and three hundred year old palaces in the background. We’ve come a long way.