2010 M-1 Challenge season

Background

M-1 Challenge is a team-based competition organized with a series of events held around the world wherever MMA clubs compete. Each team consist of five fighters, one from each of the five major MMA weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. The inaugural Challenge (the 2008 Season) was won by the Russian team from the Red Devil Sport Club, who defeated the team from the Netherlands. The 2009 M-1 Challenge Season was also won by a Russian team, this time with a 5–0 defeat of the USA East team.

M-1 Challenge XXI: Guram vs. Garner

The first M-1 Challenge event took place on October 28, 2010, at the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The event featured two title bouts that paired M-1 Global's 2010 "Selection" regional champions, who topped a worldwide tournament that began in January.

Championship bouts

Belarusian Artiom Damkovsky and his Russian opponent Mairbek Taisumov fought to determine the Championship in the lightweight division. Damkovsky came into the bout as the M-1 Eastern European Lightweight Champion, having twice defeated Arsen Ubaidulaev and with an overall 7–4 win–loss record. Taisumov became the M-1 Western European Lightweight Champion when he defeated Serhiy Adamchuk and entered the championship bout with a 12–2 record. Both Damkovsky and Taisumov were undefeated in the 2010 Season prior to their fight. In the first two rounds, the two men were relatively evenly matched: Damkovsky was the more powerful striker, landing telling blows with low and mid-kicks. Taisumov, however, executed a successful takedown in the second round and followed it up with a crushing ground-and-pound. In the third round, both men remained on their feet until the bout was stopped when Damkovsky poked Taisumov in the eye. Though medically cleared to continue, Taisumov declined to continue and Damkovsky was declared the winner with a TKO by retirement.

The two fighters meeting in the heavyweight championship bout were Ukrainian Guram Gugenishvili and American Kenny Garner. Gugenishvili became the M-1 Western European Heavyweight champion when he defeated fellow-Ukrainian Alexander Romaschenko in a bout held at the M-1 Selection Eastern European finals Gugenishvili's victory by rear naked choke submission took his win–loss record to 9–0, and eight of those victories were by submission. It was announced that Gugenishvili would face M-1 Eastern European Heavyweight Champion Maxim Grishin. However, Grishin was forced to withdraw from the bout with a knee injury that occurred during a national hand-to-hand combat fighting championship in Ufa, providing M-1 Global Americas Champion Kenny Garner the opportunity to fight Gugenishvili. Garner came into the championship bout with a 5–2 record, though he was undefeated in the preliminary rounds of the M-1 Challenge Season. The first round of the bout was evenly matched, with both Garner and Gugenishvili scrambling out from each other multiple times. Gugenishvili took control in the second round, however, when he took advantage of a clinch to put Garner into a guillotine choke hold. Gugenishvili achieved a technical submission victory as Garner lost consciousness, extending his undefeated run and making him the M-1 Global Heavyweight Champion.

Non-championship bouts

In addition to the title bouts, there were undercard bouts in all five weight divisions. Alexander Sarnavskiy, a previous M-1 Selection tournament participant, faced off against Victor Kuku, who was undefeated in M-1 competition. Sarnavskiy was previously scheduled to compete in the M-1 Eastern Europe final, but was forced to withdraw through illness. The fight did not last long as Sarnavskiy charged at Kuku, hitting him with a spinning back fist, before hitting him with a barrage of punches to force the stoppage at just 14 seconds.

Magomed Shikhshabekov also competed, against the former The Ultimate Fighter 9 participant Che Mills. Coming into the bout, Shikhshabekov was undefeated and had previously been scheduled to join Strikeforce, though visa issues forced him out. Che Mills was also riding a two-fight win streak, which included a nine-second knockout of Manuel Garcia. The fight, intended to be a welterweight battle, became a catchweight after Mills weighed in at 172 lb, 1 lb over the weight limit, meaning that Mills carried a point deduction into the fight. Sherdog scored the bout 29–26 for Mills, taking into account his point deduction, but the judges scored the bout as a draw. A deciding fourth round was therefore added, which Mills won easily, handing Shikshabekov his first professional loss.

Also on the card was a lightweight bout between Daniel Weichel and Yuri Ivlev and a welterweight bout between Igor Araujo and Rashid Magomedov. The former saw Weichel score an upset when his knees opened up a cut on Ivlev's head. Upon medical examination of the cut, the bout was waved off and Weichel was declared the winner via TKO. The bout between Araujo and Magomedov saw Magomedov coast to a decision victory, only being troubled in the second round with a submission attempt by Araujo.

Results summary

Except where otherwise indicated, details provided in the record box are taken from Sherdog.

M-1 Challenge XXII: Narkun vs. Vasilevsky

The second M-1 Challenge event of the season took place on December 10, 2010, at the Druzhba Arena in Moscow, Russia.

• Lightweight bout: Azerbaijan Vusal Bairamov vs. RUS Alexander Tokarev :Tokarev defeated Bairamov via KO (punch) at 1:47 of round 1.

• Light heavyweight kids bout: RUS Azamat Chakerov vs. BUL Stanislav Timochuk :Chakerov defeated Timochuk via submission (Kneebar) at 1:15 of round 3.

• Heavyweight bout: RUS Vitaly Minakov vs. RUS Valery Scherbakov :Minakov defeated Scherbakov via submission (armbar) at 1:05 of round 1.

• Women's Featherweight bout: BEL Cindy Dandois vs. RUS Yana Kunitskaya :Kunitskaya defeated Dandois via TKO (punches) at 0:34 of round 1.

• Lightweight bout: RUS Alexander Sarnavskiy vs. RUS Arsen Ubaidulaev :Sarnavskiy defeated Ubaidulaev via submission (rear-naked choke) at 0:43 of round 1.

• Light Heavyweight bout: BRA Vinny Magalhaes vs. RUS Alihan Magomedov :Magalhaes defeated Magomedov via submission (triangle armbar) at 1:10 of round 2.

• Heavyweight bout: USA Patrick Bennett vs. RUS Alexander Volkov :Bennett defeated Volkov via unanimous decision at 5:00 of round 4.

• Welterweight Championship bout: ESP Abner Lloveras vs. RUS Shamil Zavurov :Zavurov defeated Lloveras via TKO (punches) at 4:22 of round 4.

• Middleweight Championship bout: POL Rafal Moks vs. RUS Magomed Sultanakhmedov :Moks defeated Sultanakhmedov via submission (heel hook) at 0:17 of round 1.

• Light Heavyweight Championship bout: POL Tomasz Narkun vs. RUS Vyacheslav Vasilevsky :Vasilevsky defeated Narkun via TKO (retirement) at 2:20 of round 2.

• Welterweight bout: USA Luigi Fioravanti vs. RUS Arthur Guseinov :Fioravanti defeated Guseinov via submission (rear-naked choke) at 0:33 of round 4.

• Light Heavyweight bout: Georgia David Tkeshelashvili vs. RUS Mikhail Zayats :Zayats defeated Tkeshelashvili via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:26 of round 1.

• Light Heavyweight bout: RUS Viktor Nemkov vs. USA Daniel Vizcaya :Nemkov defeated Vizcaya via submission (triangle choke) at 1:09 of round 1.

References

References

1. (December 11, 2009). "M-1Global offers opportunities for fighters around the globe in 2010". [[M-1 Global.
2. (January 12, 2009). "Team Russia Red Devil defeats Team Holland at M-1 Challenge 2008 Finals". prommanow.com.
3. Schaap, J.. (December 4, 2009). "Clean Sweep by Russia Legion to Capture the 2009 M-1 Challenge Championship Cup". [[M-1 Global.
4. (October 1, 2010). "Artiom Damkovsky: Eastern Europe Selection Champion Seeking M-1 Challenge Gold". [[M-1 Global.
5. "Artiom Damkovsky". [[Sherdog.
6. (July 22, 2010). "M-1 Selection 2010 Eastern Europe Finals". sherdog.com.
7. "Mairbek "Beckan" Taisumov". [[Sherdog.
8. (July 23, 2010). "Photo Gallery: M-1 Selection Finals: Eastern and Western Europe". [[M-1 Global.
9. (July 22, 2010). "M-1 Selection 2010 Eastern Europe Finals". [[Sherdog.
10. "Guram Gugenishvili". [[Sherdog.
11. (October 21, 2010). "Zayats vs. Baric Collision set for M-1 Challenge XXI: Guram vs. Garner". [[M-1 Global.
12. (September 24, 2010). "Maxim Grishin: "I have to be prepared for anything"". [[M-1 Global.
13. (October 23, 2010). "Maxim Grishin: "It's a pity that I can't fight for the title in October"". [[M-1 Global.
14. (September 30, 2010). "To Russia with "Deuce": Kenny Garner catapults into M-1 Challenge XXI Heavyweight title fight". [[M-1 Global.
15. "Kenny "Deuce" Garner". [[Sherdog.
16. (September 16, 2010). "Alexander "The Tiger" Sarnavskiy: Russia's Lightweight Beast". [[M-1 Global.
17. (June 21, 2010). "Magomed Shikhshabekov Out of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum Due to Visa Problems". bloodyelbow.com.
18. "Vusal Bairamov". [[Sherdog.
19. (October 27, 2010). "M-1 Challenge XXI weigh-in results". prommanow.com.
20. "Joakhim Apie". [[Sherdog]].
21. "Denis Goltsov". [[Sherdog.
22. "Marat Aliaskhabov". [[Sherdog.
23. "Mikhail Zayats". [[Sherdog.
24. "Matias Baric". [[Sherdog.
25. "Daniel Weichel". [[Sherdog.
26. "Yuri "Cable Guy" Ivlev". [[Sherdog.
27. "Rashid Magomedov". [[Sherdog.
28. "Igor Araujo". [[Sherdog.
29. "Che Mills". [[Sherdog.
30. "Magomed "The Eagle" Shikshabekov". [[Sherdog.
31. "Alexander "Tiger" Sarnavskiy". [[Sherdog.
32. "Victor "Tigri" Kuku". [[Sherdog.
33. Marciniak, T.. (October 28, 2010). "Champions Crowned at M-1 Challenge 21". [[Sherdog.
34. "Alexei Belyaev". [[Sherdog.
35. "Alexei Nazarov". [[Sherdog.
36. "Dmitry Samoilov". [[Sherdog.
37. "Gadzhimurad Omarov". [[Sherdog.
38. (October 28, 2010). "M-1 Challenge 21 - Guram vs. Garner". [[Sherdog.
39. "M-1 Challenge 22 - Narkun vs. Vasilevsky". sherdog.com.