It was a night full of knockouts, submissions, and tough decisions this past Saturday at the Olympic Hall in Seoul, South Korea. But when it was all send and down, Eduardo Pamplona, Do Hyung Kim, Giva Santana, and Hae Joon Yang will received M-1Global.com’s unofficial “Fight Night” awards.
Pamplona and Kim have been named winners of the M-1Global.com “Fight of the Night” award for their tremendous two-round duel that ended with Pamplona getting the win by unanimous decision.
Pamplona, a former IFL superfighter, started out fast vs. Kim after an entertaining ring entrance. Utilizing his improving Muay Thai skills, Pamplona pushed the pace and kept Kim on the defensive. However, if at any point Pamplona slowed his assault, Kim would go on the offense and threatened Pamplona with several big shots.
In the end, Pamplona landed more strikes in a fight filled with almost non-stop action. The victory helped Brazil to a 3-2 win over South Korea and allowed the team to finish with a 2-1 regular season record in Group C, which was won Saturday night by USA West.
Pamplona completed the M-1 Challenge regular season with a 3-0 record and is now 12-2 overall in his pro MMA career. The native Brazilian is currently on a seven fight win streak and has plans to spend the next several months in Thailand in order to sharpen his striking skills.
Also receiving “Fight of the Night” consideration was Toni Valtonen’s quick comeback victory over Nikola Dipchkov and Ui Cheol Nam’s unanimous decision victory over formerly undefeated Brazilain Hacran Dias.
Santana and his teammates clinched its Group C title following a 5-0 rout over Russia Imperial on Saturday night. Santana, the team’s middleweight representative and a former EliteXC veteran, improved to 2-0 in the M-1 Challenge and 13-1 overall.
Facing prospect Radmir Gabdullin, Santana submitted the young Russian with an arm triangle choke at 3:47 of round 1. The win marked the 12th submission win of Santana’s career and the 12th submission of the “Arm Collector’s” career in which he has used an arm to tap an opponent out.
Other “Submission of the Night” contenders include Dave Jansen for his 22 second guillotine choke submission against Amirkhan Mazikov in which Mazikov passed out; Fabio “Negao” Nascimento’s beautiful armbar submission over Marat Illaev at 2:13 of round 2; and Valtonen’s triangle choke against Dipchkov that allowed him to come back from what had appeared to have been certain defeat.
With several impressive knockouts already under consideration, Yang left no doubt and snatched the “Knockout of the Night” award after recording one of the fastest KOs in M-1 Challenge history. With South Korea having already lost to Brazil 3-1, Yang still managed to send Korean fans happy after engaging in an old school slugfest with Joaquim “Mamute” Ferreira in the center of the ring.
Yang got the better of the exchange and sent “Mamute” face first to the floor after connecting with a big right that left no doubt about the outcome. The dramatic win prompted many fans at ringside to jump over the security rail and jump into the ring while an injured Ferreira layed lifeless on the mat.
The win improved Yang’s record to 3-0 and was the third time in his three fights in which he has won via KO or TKO in the first round.
Also receiving “Knockout of the Night” consideration was Shane Del Rosario, who improved to 7-0 following his 0:21 second TKO over Russian heavyweight Maxim Grishin. Del Rosario is now 2-0 in M-1 Challenge competition with two knockouts that have lasted a total of 2:48.
Joining Del Rosario on the honorable mentio list are Team Finland fighters Niko Puhakka and Janne Tulirinta. Puhakka scored a brutal TKO win over Bulgaria’s Yanko Yanev at 2:16 of round 1 that left the South Korea crowd speechless due to Yanev laying motionless in the ring for several minutes while medical officials attended to him. Tulirinta, a brown belt under Lucio Linhares, also picked up his second first round TKO in less than 30 days by finishing Ivan Ivanov with ground and pound at 3:44 of round 1.
