Nuralez Aydarov vs. Oleg Lichkovakha 0:12 R1
Kurban Taigibov vs. Lom-Ali Nalgiev 3R Unanimous Dec
Damien Peltier vs. Maxim Kuldashev 4:55 R2
Bakary El Anwar vs. Alexandr Popov 0:27 R1
Roman Bogatov vs. Tahir Abdullaev 1:21 R2
Janne Elonen-Kulmala vs. Huyixbai Chuhayifu 3R. Huyixbai, who lost his previous M1 fight against similarly experienced Ibragim Navruvov then won some more fights in Kunlun & WLF, stepped up in competition & experience level, taking on a fighter with almost twice as many fights, albeit one whowas on an 0-2-1 streak. Kulmala looked good in the 1st round, busting Huyixbai up & taking him down, and you thought he might just be a level above what Huyixbai is ready for. Early on, Kulmala was very light on his feet as the southpaw moved left to get outside Huyixbai's right hand power & land the left straight down the middle, but this movement was nowhere to be seen as the fight progressed & the veteran tired first. Huyixbai finally caught Kulmala with a right hook, but Kulmala immediately level changed into a double leg. Huyixbai bled outside the right eye & from the nose, but began to come back once he got back to his feet, though Kulmala got a big clinch knee in late that may have been what broke Huyixbai's nose. Kulmala had to expend a lot of energy clinching & wrestling to keep Huyixbai out of his striking game, and the better conditioned Huyixbai began to take over in the 2nd, landing a right hook then dropping down into a takedown. Kulmala managed to stand once, but showed no movement whatsoever on the ground after Huyixbai stuffed his takedown & took the top. Put it this way, if Kulmala ever fought Tomohiro Ishii, it would be The Stone Pitbull vs. The Stone Turtle. Huyixbai dug into the body then landed several unanswered clean shots to the head as Kulmala just held on occasionally & prayed for the round to end so Huyixbai was unstoppable any time he thought to posture up. The fight was definitely a round a piece though I'd give Huyixbai a 10-8 2nd, yet neither showed much urgency in the 3rd. Midway through the round, Kulmala defended a bull rush high single, but Huyixbai transitioned into a belly to back suplex that would make Gary Albright proud. Huyixbai's jaw was hanging from exhaustion by this point & Kulmala nearly twisted him down, but again Huyixbai managed to take the top of Kulmala's takedown attempt, and you figured that sealed it in his favor, but Kulmala quickly escaped out the side. Kulmala had given up on his counter striking by this point as he was too tired to keep his hands up & was just eating the first shot before failing to counter. Huyixbai knew Kulmala was in full on takedown mode though, and it's easier to defend a takedown when you're tired than to keep exploding for them. Not a great technical fight, but both had their moments & put a hurting on one another. Huyixbai won a unanimous decision. Good match.
Matthew Clempner vs. Rafal Kijanczuk R1 0:15
Olga Golynska vs. Yan Qi Hui R1 3:34
Selem Evloev vs. Wu Xiaolong R1 2:42
Vazha Tsiptauri vs. Liang Hui 3:37
Mikhail Kuznetsov vs. Nikita Solonin 4:20 R2
Saba Bolaghi vs. Azizbek Satibaldiev 3:35 R2
Maksim Baruzdin vs. Fredi Gonzalez 0:18 R1
Aleksey Ilyenko vs. Helson Henriques 0:27 R3
Daniil Prikaza vs. Joilton Santos 3R Unanimous Dec
Yuriy Fedorov vs. Charles-Henri Lucien 1:31 R1
Nikolay Savilov vs. Nikolai Rachek 4:26 R3
Pierre Ludet vs. Egor Filidov 3:56 R1
Mark Hulme vs. Vadim Shabadash 2:20 R1
Sergey Klyuev vs. Ilya Karetnikov 2:25 R1
Asia Klyutova vs. Zejna Krantic 4:22 R3
Rubenilton Pereira vs. Baktybek Oktom 5:00 R1
Roman Bogatov vs. Raul Tutarauli 3:05 R2
Valery Myasnikov vs. Mikhail Ragozin 3R SD
Maksim Grabovich vs. Juho Valamaa 3R UD
M-1 Lightweight Title: Damir Ismagulov vs. Artiom Damkovsky 3:53 R1
Movsar Bokov vs. Belek Abdyzhaparov 3R Majority Dec
Edward Massey vs. Mate Sanikidze 0:18 R1
Sergey Morozov vs. Zaka Fatullazade 4:31 R1
Zalimbeg Omarov vs. Alexei Nevzorov 3R Unanimous Dec
Oleg Popov vs. Adam Bogatirov 3R. This is one of the rare heavyweight matches that's actually even remotely interesting because they managed to a high keep a pace & show some diversity, counters, & transitions rather than defaulting into one or both of the two heavyweight tropes, plodding around waiting to win with one big punch or dry humping the opponent for the decision victory. Early on, Popov was winning at distance mixing left hand leads to set up his larger opponent for the overhand right. Bogatirov began to get aggressive 2 minutes in after Popov hit him with a couple big combinations, throwing cool right knee/right uppercut & left switch kick/right straight combos. Popov got the single leg and Bogatirov immediately rolled into an armbar attempt, but for some reason gave it up & Popov took side mount. Bogatirov kept going for submissions off his back, and Popov was just leaking blood all over him from the top. Bogatirov didn't have an answer for Popov's single leg, so the match kind of defaulted to Popov immediately taking him down, but Bogatirov answering with submission attempts. Bogatirov actually managed to roll out the back of Popov's mount early in the 2nd. Popov was landing punches from the amateur wrestling starting position, but Bogatirov rolled into a kneebar. Bogatirov was bleeding now as well, and when he locked a reverse triangle after Popov took him down with a double leg, it helped Popov slip his head out. Popov regained control, and pounded on Bogatirov from full or side mount for the rest of the round to go up 2-0. Bogatirov seems like one of those fighters who probably submits everyone in his gym, and gets bad habits from it. His biggest problem here is instead of sprawling to defend the takedown, he kept fumbling for neck control, seemingly to set up some kind of guillotine that never materialized, always just winding up on his back. He's very good off his back, but when you don't get the finish, an opponent racking up takedowns, top control time, and ground & pound is the surest way you'll find to losing a decision. Bogatirov did have a kneebar attempt in the 3rd that was so lengthy the ref eventually stood them up, but after Bogatirov got one knee in, Popov took him down yet again to seal the victory. Popov won a unanimous decision. Very good match.
Vasily Kozlov vs. Jurand Lisiecki 0:30 R1
Nikita Solonin vs. Rene Hackl 3R UD
Rafal Kijanczuk vs. Ibrahim Sagov 5:00 R1
Artem Tarasov vs. Filip Kovarik 1:57 R1
Boris Medvedev vs. Dmitriy Tikhonyuk 1:07 R1
Ivan Eremenko vs. Nidzhat Imanov 3R UD
Jani Salmi vs. Ruslan Khisamutdinov 3:52 R1
Chris Kelades vs. Sergey Klyuev 3R UD
Timur Doronin vs. Kang Kang Fu 3:06 R2
Spencer Jebb vs. Vladimir Tyurin 3R UD
Denis Sulimov vs. Iliskhan Merzhoev 4:30 R1
Ivan Tsigelnik vs. Maksim Baruzdin 0:15 R1
Magomed Magomedov vs. Arnaud Kherfallah 0:28 R1
Jean Patrick vs. Talekh Nadzhafadze 4:55 R2
Oleg Popov vs. Yuriy Fedorov 2:38 R2
Vladimir Trusov vs. Aslan Izmailov 2:50 R3
Amiran Gogoladze vs. Juho Valamaa 0:10 R1
Aridane Romero Rodriguez vs. Akhmadkhan Bokov 2:28 R2
Busurmankul Abdibait Uulu vs. Zalimbeg Omarov 3R MD. Omarov found an opponent he couldn't take down, and after losing 2 rounds failing to find those openings, he really went for it in the 3rd. The 3rd was an exciting round that he Omarov won over his more fatiged opponent.
Vadim Shabadash vs. Musa Pliev 3:12 R1. Pliev looked really impressive with his grip strength & takedowns, but despite him being a sambo specialist, it was Shabadash who was threatening once it hit the mat. Shabadash had a great armbar attempt that Pliev escaped. Shabadash got onto his knees & stuffed Pliev's attempts for another double leg then swung around the back & choked Pliev out from his knees without any body control.
Asu Almabaev vs. Kiril Fomenkov R2
Abylai Tolesh vs. Sergey Klyuev 3:06 R3.
Mikhail Kuznetsov vs. Nurbek Kabdrakhmanov 3R UD
Murad Abdurakhmanov vs. Brandon Bell R3
Khamzat Dalgiev vs. Bayaman Nurmamat R1
Sabit Zhusupov vs. Mate Sanikidze 3R UD
Vasily Kozlov vs. Georgiy Akoshvili 4:55 R3. Kozlov was likely about to lose the fight when he landed a low right hook counter to Akoshvili's overhand right for the KO.
Rafal Kijanczuk vs. Giga Kukhalashvili R1
Kayck Alencar vs. Talgat Zhumagaliev 2:43 R3. Zhumagaliev stepped in for fellow Kazakh Sanzhar Adilov on less than a weeks notice to face 8-0 Brazilian Muay Thai specialist Alencar. It's the type of fight one doesn't expect to be too competitive, especially as it goes on & Alencar has the size advantage as well as presumably the cardio from having a full camp. Zhumagaliev was just avoiding Alencar's bombs early & doing anything he could to grab him or catch a kick so he could get a takedown attempt, but they were all stuffed. Suddenly, Zhumagaliev just led with an overhand right & countered Alencar's right with his own left to drop him. Alencar answered with a liver punch, but Zhumagaliev ate it to drive forward into a double leg. Zhumagaliev was expending a lot of energy trying to get Alencar down & keep him from getting right back up, but he was getting some points for control & not getting beat up. Alencar had an arm triangle attempt in the final 20 seconds that was over the nose rather than under the chin, so I don't think it was enough to steal the round back. Zhumagaliev's confidence in his standup began to increase as he countered Alencar's switch knee with an overhand right while Alencar began to grow more hesistant. Alencar came in with a right body hook, but just stood in front of Zhumagaliev, who again nailed him with his awkward 2-3 combo. Alencar stumbled halfway across the ring with the cage holding him up momentarily until Zhumagaliev caught up & hit a double leg. Zhumagaliev was finally able to hold Alencar down & get his ground & pound going, swelling Alencar's left eye most of the way shut & he bled steadily from the nose. The round was likely a 10-8 round, as while there wasn't a massive beating on the ground, Alencar had no offense to offset all Zhumagaliev's success. Alencar knew he needed to do something big & came out bombing, landing an early overhand right but eating the 2-3 back. Though Zhumagaliev was focused on using Alencar's aggression against him, Alencar was getting good body hooks in & defending the takedowns. Zhumagaliev tried to just stall out the match taking some shots while refusing to relinquish his single leg attempt, hoping to hang on for the decision victory. Zhumagaliev seemed to relax figuring he was fine as long as Alencar didn't break free, and was caught off guard by Alencar going after an anaconda rather than continuing to use his strikes to try to force Talgat to release. Alencar couldn't roll it, but once he had the choke locked in he was able to stand up & use the corner for leverage and to take away Zhumagaliev's room to escape for the submission. Though the winner was the one you expected all along, the path in which he took to get there, and ultimately getting the comeback win with a standing anaconda as the first submission of his MMA career was the last way I expected him to get there. Good match.
Daniil Prikaza vs. Eduardo Ramon 4:06 R2
Sergey Morozov vs. Bakhytbek Duishobaev R1
M-1 Featherweight Title: Nate Landwehr vs. Andrey Lezhnev 3:10 R3
11/11/14: Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Orudzh Zamanov R2 3:46
3/21/15 ACB Featherweight Grand Prix Semifinal: Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Artak Nazaryan R2 4:08