Rising star Johan Romming will look to improve to 5-0 during Friday's episode of the M-1 Challenge on HDNet.
A best-of-five series between Group D rivals Team Germany and the World Team will headline this Friday’s edition of the M-1 Challenge on HDNet at 8 p.m. ET.
After struggling in 2008, the Germans have rebounded in 2009 and rank amongst the most improved teams in this year’s M-1 Challenge. They look to improve to 2-1 and finish the regular season above .500 against a versatile World Team that primarily pools fighters from nations not represented in the M-1 Challenge.
One fighter competing for the World Team this Friday is a competitor who hails from a country that is represented in the M-1 Challenge. Light heavyweight Johan Romming, one of the most decorated amateur wrestlers in the history of France, made his M-1 Challenge debut this past June as a representative of his native country.
Filling in for Christian M’pumbu, Romming needed just 1:59 of round 1 to submit Danny Giblin of Team England with a North/South choke. With M’pumbu back on the team France roster for the regular season finale, World Team owner Harry van Dorn seized the opportunity to add Romming to his squad and bolster the team’s depth.
Romming will look to improve to 5-0 during Friday’s episode when he faces fellow undefeated fighter Mathias Schuck, 4-0, of Team Germany.
In addition to adding Romming, van Dorn also signed legendary Serbian fighter Miodrag “Pele” Petkovic to represent his team at heavyweight. Petkovic, 27-10-1, has competed all over the world for the BodogFIGHT and Jungle Fight promotions. He holds notable wins in his career against current UFC fighters Tim Hague and Igor Pokrajac.
Petkovic will look to spoil the M-1 Challenge debut of Thorsten “The German Oak” Kronz.
Viewers can also look forward to seeing rising prospect Diego Gonzalez of the World Team as he takes on Nordin Asrih of Germany. Gonzalez currently resides in Sweden and will look to increase his current win streak to seven when he faces Asrih.
The versatile Gonzalez made his M-1 Challenge debut on June 5 in Kansas City and TKO’d Faith Dogan of Team Turkey just 2:16 of round 1. A veteran of BodogFIGHT, Gonzalez holds notable wins over UFC and Strikeforce veteran Steve Berger as well as current M-1 Challenge standout Matt Thorpe. He might be best known for his legendary two-fight series against current UFC welterweight title contender Dan Hardy while both were competing for the Cage Warriors promotion in the U.K.
Viewers tuning in this Friday will also see matches between Nathan Schouteren (World Team) vs. Ismail Cetinkaya (Germany) and Daniel Weichel (Germany) vs. Danial Sharifi (World Team).
Remember to tune into HDNet (www.HDNetFights.com) each and every Friday at 8 p.m. ET for new episodes of the M-1 Challenge. And for additional information on the M-1 Challenge, please visit www.M-1Global.com.
