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. [4] 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 [5] and with an overall 7–4 win–loss record. [6] Taisumov became the M-1 Western European Lightweight Champion when he defeated Serhiy Adamchuk [7] and entered the championship bout with a 12–2 record. [8] 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. [9]
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 [10] when he defeated fellow-Ukrainian Alexander Romaschenko in a bout held at the M-1 Selection Eastern European finals [11] Gugenishvili's victory by rear naked choke submission took his win–loss record to 9–0, and eight of those victories were by submission. [12] It was announced [13] that Gugenishvili would face M-1 Eastern European Heavyweight Champion Maxim Grishin. [14] 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, [15] providing M-1 Global Americas Champion Kenny Garner the opportunity to fight Gugenishvili. [16] 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. [17] 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. [9]
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, [18] faced off against Victor Kuku, who was undefeated in M-1 competition. [19] Sarnavskiy was previously scheduled to compete in the M-1 Eastern Europe final, but was forced to withdraw through illness. [20] 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. [9]
Magomed Shikhshabekov [21] also competed, against the former The Ultimate Fighter 9 participant Che Mills. [22] Coming into the bout, Shikhshabekov was undefeated and had previously been scheduled to join Strikeforce, though visa issues forced him out. [23] Che Mills was also riding a two-fight win streak, which included a nine-second knockout of Manuel Garcia. [22] The fight, intended to be a welterweight battle, became a catchweight after Mills weighed in at 172 lb, 1 lb over the weight limit, [24] meaning that Mills carried a point deduction into the fight. [9] 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. [9]
Also on the card was a lightweight bout between Daniel Weichel [25] and Yuri Ivlev [26] and a welterweight bout between Igor Araujo [27] and Rashid Magomedov. [28] 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. [9] 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. [9]
Results summary
| Match | Weight class | Winner weight at weigh-in | Loser weight at weigh-in | Method | Round | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lightweight |  Vusal Bairamov [29] 153.75 pounds (69.74 kg) [24] |  Joakhim Apie [30] 155.25 pounds (70.42 kg) [24] | TKO (knees and punches) | 1 | 2:29 | |
| 2 | Heavyweight |  Denis Goltsov [31] 213.25 pounds (96.73 kg) [24] | Marat Aliaskhabov [32] 208.75 pounds (94.69 kg) [24] | Submission (straight armbar) | 1 | 4:56 | |
| 3 | Light Heavyweight | Mikhail Zayats [33] 200.5 pounds (90.9 kg) [24] |  Matias Baric [34] 198.5 pounds (90.0 kg) [24] | Submission (rear naked choke) | 3 | 3:12 | |
| 4 | Lightweight |  Daniel Weichel [25] 154.0 pounds (69.9 kg) [24] | Yuri Ivlev [26] 154.0 pounds (69.9 kg) [24] | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 3 | 2:34 | |
| 5 | Welterweight | Rashid Magomedov [28] 167.5 pounds (76.0 kg) [24] |  Igor Araujo [27] 170.25 pounds (77.22 kg) [24] | Unanimous decision | 3 | 5:00 | |
| 6 | Welterweight |  Che Mills [22] 172.0 pounds (78.0 kg) [24] | Magomed Shikhshabekov [21] 168.0 pounds (76.2 kg) [24] | Unanimous decision | 4 | 5:00 | Mills was 1 lb over weight [24] |
| 7 | Lightweight | Alexander Sarnavskiy [18] 153.25 pounds (69.51 kg) [24] |  Victor Kuku [19] 155.5 pounds (70.5 kg) [24] | KO (spinning back fist and punches) | 1 | 0:14 | |
| 8 | Lightweight |  Artiom Damkovsky [6] 153.75 pounds (69.74 kg) [24] |  Mairbek Taisumov [8] 153.25 pounds (69.51 kg) [24] | TKO (retirement) | 3 | 2:52 | Lightweight Championship bout [9] |
| 9 | Heavyweight |  Guram Gugenishvili [12] 249.5 pounds (113.2 kg) [24] |  Kenny Garner [17] 249.5 pounds (113.2 kg) [24] | Technical submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 0:52 | Heavyweight Championship bout [9] |
| 10 | Middleweight | Alexei Belyaev [35] 184.0 pounds (83.5 kg) [24] | Alexei Nazarov [36] 182.75 pounds (82.89 kg) [24] | Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 0:50 | |
| 11 | Light Heavyweight | Dmitry Samoilov [37] 198.75 pounds (90.15 kg) [24] | Gadzhimurad Omarov [38] 205.0 pounds (93.0 kg) [24] | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 3 | 0:28 | |
Except where otherwise indicated, details provided in the record box are taken from Sherdog. [4]
