Tomorrow’s M-1 Challenge Playoff Semifinals will air live on Internet PPV via M-1Global.com on Saturday at noon ET. To order, submit your payment information through the SMS widget on the right hand side of the page.
Below are the top five individual matchups to watch:
1. Lightweight: Ivan Jorge (USA East) vs. Steve Magdaleno (USA West) - Tomorrow’s team challenge opener will feature a battle of unbeatens when Magdaleno puts his 6-0 record on the line against Jorge’s 5-0 record.
A veteran of Pancrase, Magdaleno is a well-rounded fighter who trains out of the VMAT Fight Gym under the guidance of former IFL light heavyweight champion Vladimir Matyushenko. Despite his solid ground skills, Magdaleno is expected to try to keep the fight standing against Jorge, who trains under the Gracie Barra banner in Brazil.
USA West vs. USA East is a best-of-five series that is almost too close to call and whichever team is able to get out to a 1-0 advantage will have a serious edge heading into the remaining four fights.
2. Welterweight: Delson Heleno (USA East) vs. Fabio “Negao” Nascimento (USA West) – This battle of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts could prove to be the top fight on the entire 11-bout card. Heleno is a former IFL standout who is making his M-1 Challenge debut.
Meanwhile, Nascimento is a former Affliction veteran who went 2-0 in his two appearances in the M-1 Challenge this season. With both fighters’ ground skills likely cancelling each other out, it would not be surprised to see this fight turn into a pure slugfest.
3. Heavyweight: Lloyd Marshbanks (USA East) vs. Shane Del Rosario (USA West) – Listed as 17-9 by most fight finders, Marshbanks claims he is actually 53-9 with many of his fights having taking place during non-sanctioned events. Whether you believe Marshbanks’ claims or not, the reality is that he holds the experience advantage over Del Rosario.
Del Rosario, 7-0 and the current WBC Muay Thai Champion, has all the tools needed to be a superstar in MMA. However, he remains relatively untested on the ground and Marshbanks, a former All-American wrestler in High School, could cause some matchup issues. Del Rosario trains under Colin Oyama in Orange County and has worked hard on his jiu-jitsu with renowned grappler Giva Santana. However, Marshbanks is one of the best takedown specialists in the entire M-1 Challenge and if he’s able to take the fight to the floor, an upset could be in the cards.
4. Welterweight: Magomed Shikshabekov (Russia Legion) vs. Simon Phillips (Team England) – Shikshabekov is a highly-touted prospect with a perfect 4-0 record and the distinction of having been voted Sherdog.com’s number eight top European MMA prospect. However, the youngster remains relatively untested and Phillips could prove to be the toughest test of his young career.
Could is the operative word, depending on which Simon Phillips shows up in Rostov on Saturday. Phillips went 2-1 during the M-1 Challenge regular season with none of his fights — including his June 5 loss to Gael Grimaud — making it out of the first round. Phillips looked unstoppage in Japan, needing just 20 seconds to knockout Hidehiko Hasegawa.
However, the win over Hasegawa was followed by a triangle choke submission loss to Grimaud at just 1:29 of round 1. But the Devan native closed out the season strong with a first round rear naked choke submission win on Aug. 15 in Holland against the highly-touted Jonathan Leon.
In order for England to have a chance to pull off the upset, Phillips must bring his A-game to the ring and hand Shikshabekov his first loss as a pro.
5. Middleweight: Ansar Chalangov (Russia Legion) vs. Matt Thorpe (Team England) - Thorpe is a much better fighter than his 13-8 record would indicate. Standing 6’4”, the lanky and lean Thorpe is one of the top submission specialists in all of the M-1 Challenge. On a normal day, England could feel confident about sending Thorpe out and him coming back with the victory.
But not this time, as Legion has done its best to stack the deck against England in hopes of ensuring that the M-1 Challenge Championship Cup won last year by Team Imperial remains in Russia. Despite not having competed in the M-1 Challenge this season, Chalangov has been promoted to the roster in order to utilize his past experience of fighting in big-time fights for both the UFC and BodogFIGHT promotion.
While Thorpe is normally a tough test for most fighters, Chalangov holds career victories over Dennis Hallman and Dave Strasser. The question is, how will Chalangov respond in his first fight since November of 2008? Will ring rust be a factor, or will Chalangov’s UFC experience prove to be too much for Thorpe?
