The Kadillac is Back!
An injury to undefeated heavyweight prospect Pedro Ribeiro has forced USA East team manager Reed Wallace to search for a short-notice replacement to represent his team during the M-1 Challenge Playoff Semifinals on Sept. 26 in Rostov, Russia (to be streamed live on Internet pay-per-view at M-1Global.com).
Wallace’s search for a new heavyweight has ended with the return of his old heavyweight, the highly charismatic Lloyd “Kadillac” Marshbanks.
Marshbanks was the regular heavyweight representative for USA East at the start of the M-1 Challenge season and competed during its first two regular season matchups. However, Marshbanks was tapped by M-1 Global officials to participate in its first-ever live U.S. telecast when he was matched up to face Michael Kita during “HDNET FIGHTS PRESENTS M-1 BREAKTHROUGH” on Aug. 28.
As such, M-1 officials held him out of USA East’s regular season finale on Aug. 16 in Hilversum, Holland, forcing USA East light heavyweight Chuck “The Reverend” Grigsby to move up to heavyweight against Jessie Gibbs of Team Benelux.
Marshbanks entered the fight vs. Kita with a shoulder injury suffered a few weeks earlier during a bout in Cancun, Mexico in which Marshbanks, the nephew of former NFL great Roosevelt Greer, defeated an opponent that outweighed him by sixty pounds.
The shoulder became dislocated during the early portion of Marshbanks’ fight vs. Kita, forcing a first round TKO due to injury. Following the news of Marshbanks’ injury, Wallace recruited Ribeiro to step up and face USA West’s Shane Del Rosario during the Sept. 26 semifinals.
But after a training injury sustained by Ribeiro, Wallace needed another replacement. He placed a call to his first-string heavyweight, Marshbanks, and the two had a long conversation. Marshbanks informed Wallace that he began an aggressive rehabilitation program immediately after “M-1 Breakthrough” that included a great deal of pool therapy. During the course of the conversation, Wallace became convinced that Marshbanks would indeed be ready to challenge one of the top up-and-coming heavyweight prospects in the world in Del Rosario.
For Marshbanks, a return to the USA East roster gives him a chance to finish what he started during the team’s season opener in Bourgas, Bulgaria on March 28, 2009. Facing hostile conditions and entering the arena to a chorus of boos, Marshbanks won the Bulgarian crowd over by helping USA East to 5-0 victory after heel hook submission win over hometown hero Emil Samolilov just 3:17 into round 1.
Marshbanks, a former All-American wrestler in high school, returned to the M-1 Challenge on June 5 in Kansas City, Kansas for USA East’s best-of-five series vs. Group C rival Team Finland. With the series tied 2-2 heading into the fifth and deciding match, Marshbanks delivered what would prove to be USA East’s most crucial victory over the season and he forced Toni Valtonen to submit to a neck crank at 0:55 of round 2.
Without Marshbanks, USA East lost to Benelux by a 2-3 score and finished in a first place tie with Finland with both teams ending its regular season with 2-1 team challenge records and 10-5 records during individual bouts. The second and decisive tie-breaker was head-to-head matchups, with Marshbanks’ victory over Valtonen that gave USA East its 3-2 win over Finland on June 5 proving the difference.
The addition of Marshbanks vs. Del Rosario to the Sept. 26 semifinals bolsters a stacked card that was already scheduled to include anticipated matchups between USA East welterweight and IFL veteran Delson Heleno vs. BJJ black belt and Affliction veteran Fabo “Negao” Nascimento of USA West, as well as England’s Matt Thorpe vs. ex-UFC veteran and Russia Legion middleweight Ansar Chalangov.
The entire bout sheet for the Sept. 26 M-1 Challenge finals is listed below, with Internet PPV orders for the event now being accepted via an SMS payment widget at M-1Global.com:
PRELIMINARY FIGHT -
1. Catchweight (162.8 lbs./74 kg): Akhmed Goseinov vs. Bakhruz Dzabarov
USA EAST VS. USA WEST -
2. Lightweight (154 lbs./-70 kg): Ivan Jorge vs. Steve Magdaleno
3. Welterweight (167.2 lbs./-76 kg): Delson Heleno vs. Fabio “Negao” Nascimento
4. Middleweight (184.8 lbs./-84 kg): Gerson Dos Santos vs. Joao Asis
5. Light Heavyweight (204.8 lbs./-93 kg): Chuck Grigsby vs. Spencer Hooker
6. Heavyweight (+204.8 lbs./+93 kg): Lloyd “Kadillac” Marshbanks vs. Shane Del Rosario
7. Lightweight (154 lbs./-70 kg): Scott Hewitt vs. Yura Ivlev
8. Welterweight (167.2 lbs./-76 kg): Simon Phillips vs. Magomed Shikshabekov
9. Middleweight (184.8 lbs./-84 kg): Matt Thorpe vs. Ansar Chalangov
10. Light Heavyweight (204.8 lbs./-93 kg): Lee Austin vs. Besiki Gerenava
11. Heavyweight (+204.8 lbs./+93 kg): Rob Broughton vs. Akhmed Sultanov
