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M-1 Challenge
22-11-2008, 14:16
M-1 Challenge IX
November 21th 2008
Lledovil Palace St. Petersburg

The public interest in Mixed Martial Arts is increasing steadily and because of that there is also a growing interest of the different media.
In the seventies Muay Thai was introduced in Holland by Thom Harinck and not long after that the first events were promoted. From a prestigious point of view, but also because it was good for business, associations such as the Muay Thai Bond Nederland in 1983 were founded so that there could be title fights. In 1984 Harinck and Ino Alberga founded the World Muay Thai Association with the help of the most important representatives of The Rajadamnern and Lumpini stadion in Thailand.
Competition for Thai and Kickboxing came when the Gracies challenged the whole Martial Arts World to fight them with hardly any rules in an octagon shaped cage.
The results are known. They won and set the basic standard for modern MMA.
In 1996 Ino approached his longtime friend Apy Echteld who had staged an MMA event in December 1995, with the idea to also found an international MMA Association. So said, so done and there is the origin of the International Mixfight Association. In the beginning it was very hard to organize fights, because the Dutch Government was very reluctant to allow MMA events, because they thought that there were no rules at all. Especially when it became world news that an American fighter was killed in match of a none recognized by any world body, event in the Ukraine.
By now, that is years ago, and the idea that MMA fights are fought without rules is left behind. This thanks to mainly the UFC who paved the road and Vadim Finkelchtein and Echteld of M-1 Global. But where UFC is reluctant to cooperate with others, M-1 Global wants to promote the best fighters of all associations in their shows. It's a pity that despite this UFC doesn't seem too willing to join forces with M-1.
Vadim smiles as he tells us: "Dana is calling us "the crazy Russians. Well, I think that he is crazy nor stupid, but it's kind of his style to call everybody crazy. He did a lot for MMA in the world and deserves the credits and respect for that, but although UFC paved the road, they must realize that now comes the time that others will also drive on that road. He must know that there is a time that you must let your baby go to grow and you must be willing to share. We are open to work with UFC, but I think Dana is afraid to do so. He shouldn't, because it's not our intention to steal the pie but to share the pie.
Dana says that it is hard for him to meet Fedor. Well, if he wants to meet Fedor it's no problem, but Fedor will not end up being an UFC fighter, because we do not want to work with just the UFC and M-1, but with the whole MMA world.
If Dana wants to meet us, he is invited to come to the Affliction M-1 show on January 24th in the USA. Brock Lessner fighting Fedor? I rather see it today than tomorrow, but again, it's not up to us. He is the one that must be willing to work with us.
Once again, the invitation for January stands.
I will see how he responds, but now I hope my Red Devil team wins from the Koreans in this ninth M-1 Challenge, because if they do so they will fight in the final of the M-1 Challenge in Seattle on December 26th. this year because it is hard for me to believe that Finland will be able win with 5 – 0 from France and even if France wins with 5 – 0 Red Devil will still end up as the winner of pool A. In pool B the outcome of the fight between Holland and the Russian Legion will tell us who is the other finalist."

Back to the Challenge. At the weigh in all the fighters looked sharp and ready and made their weight straight away.
Marcel Homeijer from Holland,, Viktor Korniev and Vacheslav Kiselov from Russia and Mika Sinkkonen from Finland were functioning as referee and judge and Yuri Trouvanov and Mikhail Smirnoff also joined the jury panel and Alexey Zemskov was the timekeeper.
Rules were as usual those of the IMA and Ino Alberga was the representative of this Association. Sean Wheelock and Jimmy Smith were the TV commentators and the film registration was done by Gerald "Jerry"Millen and Kevin Hewit.
For those who still do not know the idea behind the M-1 Challenge, here it is in a nutshell.
The M-1 Challenge is an international team competition for young talented upcoming fighters to gain experience and be given the opportunity to fight internationally. Most talented may be selected to participate in the major M-1 events. Teams consist of 5 members (one in each weight division being -70 kg, -76 kg, -84 kg, -93 kg and +93 kg and a coach. Every region/country will bring forward a team that will compete against other teams in an international competition that will last throughout 2008 with a grand finale at the end of the year. There will be two pooles of five teams to start with. In each pool the teams will fight every other team. The winners of the pooles will then fight for the M-1 Championship.The teams in poole A are: Holland, Japan, Russian Legion, Spain and the World team.In pool B are: Finland, France, Korea, Red Devil and the USA.
As usual the event started with some warming fights for the audience. In this case a boxing match between Habib Allahverdiev (63,8 kg) from Russia and the Tanzanian Maliki Kinyogoli who came in at 64,4 kg. Both southpaws and the pace in the first rounds was not very high, much to the disappointment of the audience. The Tanzanian was moving more and throwing more punches, but Allahverdiev's punches were stronger and more often on target.
No surprise that he took the match.


RUSSIAN LEGION vs HOLLAND

Musa Khamaneav vs Bogdan Cristea
Referee: Viktor Korniev
24 years old Khamanaev had a record of 4 win 0 lost and 0 draw and he was the Russian Champion in Combat sambo. Bogdan had 6 wins, 3 lost an 1 draw.
Bogdan took his 7th victory as a professional MMA fighter with a guillotine while laying on his back after 1.21 in the first round

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Magomed Shikshabekov (73,9 kg) vs Romano de Los Reyes (72,8 kg) .
Referee: Vacheslav Kiselov
Shikshabekov, 23 years, was the winner of the Pankration Black Sea Cup and also won the Cup of Champions in Pankration of the UFO organization. He fought only 5 professional MMA fights and won all of them. Romano was 28 and had a record of 8 – 5 – 0.
Shikshabekov winner after 58 sec in the first round with a classic triangle.

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Ansar Chalangov (83,7 kg) vs Jason Jones (83,9 kg)
Referee: Marcel Homeijer
Jones who is 27 years, cut an incredible amount of 3,6 kg in a little more than 2 hours. He was confident that he would add another victory to his 8 – 5 – 0 record.
It's a delight to see the former Dutch Judo champion fight and everybody was looking forward to see how he would do against the 28 years old winner of the Black Sea and Cup of Champions in Pankration, World Champion single combat WAFC and the world Champion Mixfight M-1, who had a professional MMA record of 7 -4 – 0.
First round Chalangov was dominating the groundfight and in the second round it was the same. After 1.28 sec in that round Jones was forced to tap out from a heel hook.

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Besike Gerinava (91,8 kg) vs Kamil Uygun (87,6 kg)
Referee: Mika Sinkkonen
Gerinavawith a record of 5 – 0 - 0, 29 years is also a winner of the Black Sea Cup and a World Champion finalist of Combat Sambo.
Uygun is aformer Belgian Judo Champion and has a MMA record of 11 – 4 – 0.
After 2 rounds 2 judges scored a draw and one for Gerinava so there had to come a third round.
Both were very tired but this time two judges scored in favor of the legionnaire. Gerinava won the fight which meant he secured the tickets to Seattle for his team to fight in the Final of the Challenge.

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M-1 Challenge
22-11-2008, 14:17
Ahmed Sultanov 102,9 kg) vs Jessie Gibbs (117)
Referee: Viktor Korniev

If one sees Gibbs, the former European and Dutch Karate Champion doing his thing in the groundfight it looks so easy. Jessie has 6 wins and his only professional loss was against none other than Alexander Emylianenko. Sultanov on the other hand had three titles in his pocket. Eurasian Champion full Contact hand to Hand Fighting 2005, Cup of Champions UFO 2006 and the Black Sea Cup 2007.
Gibbs did it again. He looked cool and in control and made his point by kicking Sultanov in the neck.
The Russian staggered backward and they ended up on the ground which is the place where Gibbs is like a fish in the water. It took him only 1 minute 12 seconds in the first round to finish Sultanov off with an armtriangle.
Legion winner of this Challenge meeting with 3 – 2 and because of this they earned their place in the finals in seattle December 26th 2008.

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Heavyweight boxing
Magomed Abdusalamov (117,4 kg) from Russia vs Bernard Mwakasanga (98,6 kg)
Mwakasanga was also from Tanzania and he did not perform well, because after about a minute he received eight counts. Soon after that the referee stopped the fight because he stopped defending himself. For him the clock stopped at 1.25 sec of the first round.
Abdusalamov winner by RSC


M-1 fight Ranking fight
Alexsander Timonov (109,2 kg) vs Gilbert Yvel (113 kg)
Referee: Marcel Homeijer
Despite the fact that he was the Russian Champion in Hand to Hand fighting, for the insiders Timonov with just 5 fights of which he lost one looked like a piece of cake for Gilbert who had 41 wins, 12 lost and one draw. Yvel who will make his appearance on Januari 24 2009 in the American MMA ring was eager to show his skills in the LLena ice palace. The Hurricane at maximum speed and power. Only 22 seconds after the bell sounded Timonov was saved from a grueling KO because the referee reacted excellent by stopping the fight after he saw Timonov's left eyebrow split open while he was helplessly trying to prevent being knocked out by the devastating punches from the Dutchman.
Gilbert winner by TKO

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RED DEVIL vs KOREA

Mikhail Malyutin (69,9 kg) vs Nam Yuchui (69,9 kg)
Referee; Mika Sinkkonen
Malyutin had 26 fights of which he won 21. He is a Wushu Sanda Champion and the winner of two International MMA tournaments. His opponent was a first time Challenge competitor with record of 12 – 0 – 0.
Malyutin winner by majority decision but it was a close call. If there had been an extra round nobody would have been surprised.

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Erik Oganov (75,6 kg) vs Kim Do Hyung (74,5 kg)
Referee: Marcel Homeijer
The Russian Champion Oganov had 12 fights with 6 wins and Korean Kim 10 fights of which he won 5.
The first round was slightly in favor of Oganov, but after 57 seconds in the 2th round Kim came in the position to start punching in the groundfight. Oganov was hurt and turned his back after which Kim finished him off with a rear naked choke.


Dmitri Samoylov (83,3 kg) vs Heo Min Seok (82,6 kg)
Referee Viktor Korniev
Heo Min Seok is an aggressive fighter who had 21 fights with only 5 lost, but although Samoylov had a record of just 3 – 2 – 0, he is the World Champion Combat Sambo.
Strong finishing minutes of Samoylov in the first round. Just when the bell sounded he landed a clear powerfull punch with good impact, but he could not finish the job because of the bell.
Samoylov started the 2th round very aggressive but Seok defended well in the beginning. Unfortunately enough nt well enough, because after 2.28 minutes the referee stopped the contest because stopped protecting his head while leaning against the rope with his chest while Dimitri was punching him from behind around.

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M-1 Challenge
22-11-2008, 14:17
Mikhail Zayatz (90,1 kg) vs Whi Seung Bae (91,2 kg)
Referee: Mika Sinkkonen
As the Russian Champion Hand to hand fighting, Prize winner of Combat Sambo and Jiu Jitsu champion of Europe, one could expect a lot of Zayats who had a record of 4 – 1 – 0.
Seung Bae was also a newcomer in the Challenge. He came in with a record of 6 – 2 – 0.
An exiting fight with slight advantage in the end for Whi. Zayatz was bleeding from the nse when the bell sounded and he walked back to his corner. The second round was another cup of tea. Zayatz dominated standing up as well as on the ground and very convincingly took the round and the decision
Zayats winner by majority decision.

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Kirill Sidelnikov (106,3 kg) vs Kim Young Whang (121,3 kg)
Referee: Marcel Homeijer
The Russian Combat sambo Champion Sidelnikov is nicknamed "Baby Fedor" and is just 21 years old. He has a MMA record of 5 – 1 – 0.
His opponent was 34 years and had an estimated 30 fights but it was not clear what his exact record was.
This match didn't matter anymore for the pool ranking. Red Devil was sure of a place in the finals in Seattle in December.
The Koreans did a shameful thing. Because before Sidelnikov could even throw a punch they threw in the towel.
This so called fight lasted just 12 seconds without any real action.
Sidelnikov winner by corner stoppage
Red Devil winner of the Challenge meeting 4 – 1 and they were the other finalist for Seattle December 26th

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Alexander Emelyaneko (118,3 kg) vs Lee Sang Soo (109,2 kg)
Referee: Viktor Korniev
Despite the MMA record of both fighters was about even,
Lee had 14–3–0 and Alex 13–3-0.Nobody gave the Korean a real chance.
He fought brave and even managed to hit Alexander a few times in the face, but after 2.40 minutes in the first round Alexander finished him off with punches

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M-1 fights
Alexei Nazarov (76,5 kg) vs Kirill Sukhomlinov (74,7 kg)
Referee: Vacheslav Kiselov
Another fight to bring the audience in the mood. Two young fighters got the chance to show themselves in the ring of a mega event like the M-1 Challenge and they proved that they were worth it. Immediate ground action and it was 2.25 minute in the first round when Sukhomlinov applied a triangle choke which made Nazarov tapout.


Igor Gerus (80,8 kg) vs Aleksander Volkov (78,25 kg)
Referee: Mika Sinkkonen
The last fight before the Challenge began was quite boring but after 3. 24 minutes Igor finished the fight with punches while Volkov was in knee bridge and stopped defending himself.
Igor Gerus winner by TKO

Dennuz
22-11-2008, 14:26
Thnx voor de pics.. Bogdan is echt een monster, nooit een saaie partij met hem