M-1 Selection 2010 Eastern Europe 1. The Lightweights steal the show.
On February, 26 Saint Petersburg hosted the inaugural M-1 Selection event pitting the best up-and-coming fighters from the Eastern Europe against each other. Unlike the previous season this year’s M-1 Selection format was changed from team concept to individual competition. The opening round of this year’s tournament was held among the lightweights.
The near sell out crowd at Yubileyny Sports Palace was treated with premium-quality bouts as the lightweights battled for their place in the semifinals.
Ratmir Teuvazhukov from the city of Anapa and Maxim Rozhkov from Nizhny Novgorod opened the eveining in the reserve fight. The winner would be a stand-by fighter in the case of injury to a tournament fighter. The confrontation was not destined to make it to the round two. While Rozhkov is as an exciting fighter on his feet, the more experienced Teuvazhukov was able to capitalize by taking his opponent to the ground and catching him in the triangle choke. Teuvazhukov has now earned the chance to step into the tournament should a fighter be unable to participate.
In the first quarterfinal bout two noble warriors with a combined record of 30-4-1 were set to collide. Karen Grigoryan of Action Force (Saint Petersburg) was cornered by Takanori Gomi’s recent conquerer Sergey Golyaev and Magomed Magomedov from Moscow was assisted by Red Devil’s Alexey Oleinik.
The bout promised to be action packed and it delivered on that promise as Grigoryan started off with excellent legs and hand combinations. Magomed countered with a beautiful throw taking the fight to the ground. Grigoryan defended himself well from the back trying to catch his opponent in a submission. Magomed wanted none of them countering time after time. In one moment when everyone thought Grigoryan was about to secure triangle, Magomedov lifted him from the ground and slammed him hard head-first breaking submission attempt. The entire opening round was high-paced intertwining stand-up battle, throws and ground fight. At the end of the first round Magomedov was saved by the bell when Grigoryan was on his way to successfully apply an armbar.
As the second round commenced the fighters hit the ground. Karen grabbed his adversary’s leg looking to finish. But Magomed was able to escape and tried to return the favor by twisting Karen’s foot. However, it was Grigoryan that won the battle by escaping a foot-lock and finished the fight by choke.
In the second bout two young guns locked horns. Alexander Sarnavskiy of Rusfighters and Maxim Kuptsov of Combat Bears came into the bout with no losses between theml. Alexander was victorious in 8 fights while Maxim won 4 times. Someone was about to taste the defeat for the first time ever in his professional MMA career. The athletes greeted each other with a stand-up flurry of punches. Kuptsov appeared to be stunned after catching one sharp shot. Sarnavsky tried to continue his early success with a flying knee but he was met with a counter punch that knocked him down to the ground. Sarnavsky was able to get a double-leg takedown and after a short scramble and started to methodically punch Kuptsov’s head asking him to open up for a fight-ending choke. Kuptsov had no choice but to oblige and and the fight ending choke was applied. Sarnavsky improved his record to 9 wins against no defeats. Next with will be the biggest test of his career as Karen Grigoryan is awaiting him in the semifinals.
The third lightweight fight of the night proved to be an evenly matched contest. Arsen Ubaidulaev from Legion Fight Team was set to defend his 7-fight win streak against grappling wizard Yury Saakyan from the Ukrainian Sokol Fight Team. Surprisingly enough, Arsen was not afraid to confront Yury on the ground and time after time took him down and even trying to find a key to submit the Ukraining athlete. Yury negated all of them, however he could not find a way to finish the fight. Saakyan changed the plan during the fight and opted to stand and bang with his opponent. Arsen was happy to satisfy Yury’s wish and was more dominant in judges’ eyes that awarded Ubaidulaev a unanimous decision victory.
The last lightweight fight of the evening quickly became a “fight of the night” candidate. When a reigning world Kudo champion meets muay thai and hand-to-hand combat honored master, you can be sure to expect fireworks. Shamil Abdulkerimov from Gorets, the M-1 Selection Russia 2009 champion, clashed with the Belarussian Artem Damkovsky from KC-55 Team. The two made the fans jump out of their seats by delivering a stand-up war. Shamil was more precise in the first stunning Damkovsky on several occasions and seriously shattering his orbital bone, but Artem would not give in and kept circling around while seeking for openings and countering actively.
In the second round the pattern began to change. The fight seemed to ballance and the sound of the strikes ran through the whole building. Both fighters left it all in the ring, and the crowd could sense the final round would decide the eventual winner of the contest. The cornermen were encouraging their respective fighters to summon all their strength as the commentators were discussing the potential outcome. It was Damkovsky who had more in his gas tank for the third round. Artem was countering Shamil’s attacks while actively pressing the action and looked more confident. Abdulkerimov was running out of steam as Artem kept taking the fight down to the ground in case of danger.
Although the fight went to the judges’ hands, the fighters showcased their skills, courage and will and were rewarded by a round of applause by the thankful fans. The decision victory went to the Artem Damkovsky who looked more fresh and dominant in the last stanza and that won over the judges.
Written by Alexander Shuldyakov, translated by Michael Mazur
