ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (January 19, 2017) – M-1 Global has announced that 2016 M-1 Grand Prix middleweight champion Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko will headline M-1 Challenge 75 in Moscow.
It has also been announced that American lightweight Keon “The Black Assassin” Caldwell will make his M-1 Global debut versus former M-1 Challenge lightweight champion Maxim Divnich.
M-1 Challenge 75 will be streamed live from Moscow in high definition on www.M1Global.TV. Viewers will be able to watch the preliminary fights and main card by logging on to register at www.M1Global.TV. Fans may watch all the action on their computers, as well as on Android and Apple smart phones and tablets.
Shlemenko (54-9-0. 1 NC, M-1: 4-0-0), a three-time Bellator champion, defeated former M-1 Challenge champion Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (see picture above with Shlemenko on right) last year in the M-1 Grand Prix Middleweight Championship semifinals and championship final, respectively, by three-round majority decision and third-round submission (choke). Shlemenko vs. Vasilevsky I & II were the M-1 Challenge 68 & 64 Fights of the Night.
In a much-anticipated All-Russian middleweight showdown, Shlemenko was supposed to fight reigning M-1 Challenge middleweight champion Ramazan Emeev, who was unfortunately injured during training camp, forcing him out of that match. Vasilevsky replaced Emeev against Shlemenko in the championship final.
In his last action, Shlemenko stopped Kendall Grove in the second round of their main event fight on Bellator 162 last October in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Alexander Shlemenko fighting in Russia is always a significant event,” M-1 Global president Vadim Finkelchtein said, “as he is a true legend of Russian MMA. His fights always sellout arenas, no matter who his opponent. We all know that the story we started last year at M<-1 Grand Prix 2016 isn't over, yet. The whole country is waiting for the fight between Russia's two best middleweights - Alexander Shlemenko and Ramazan Emeev. "Ramazan was injured and Shlemenko had contractual obligations with Bellator. So, throughout the past month, we were waiting for Shlemenko to receive permission to fight in Russia. Now, we have arranged for him to fight on M-1 Challenge 75. We've done a great job to make this possible and now hope that, this time, we will be able to complete this exciting story." Undefeated M-1 Challenge welterweight champion Alexey Kunchenko (15-0-0, M-1: 7-0-0), of Russia, will defend his title against an opponent to be announced, due to originally announced Kazakh challenger, unbeaten Shavkat Rakhmonov (7-0-0, M-1: 4-0-0), withdrawing due to a knee injury. Russian welterweight prospect Sergey "Streetfighter" Romanov (10-1-0, M-1: 3-0-0) faces Russian veteran Magomed "The White Wolf" Sultanakhmedov (18-5-0, M-1: 10-1-0) on the M-1 Challenge 75 card. Caldwell (11-3-0, M-1: 0-0-0), fighting out of Georgia, is the US-based Island Fights champion. A powerful puncher who has nine knockouts in his 11 pro victories, Caldwell was supposed to compete in the 13th season of The Ultimate Fighter, but he withdrew due to personal reasons. He has had several fights in World Series of Fighting. A Ukrainian fighting out of Moscow, Divnich captured the vacant M-1 Challenge lightweight title in 2014 at M-1 Challenge 54, stopping Dzhambulat Kurbanov in the third round on punches in the Fight of the Night. In 2015, Divnich lost his first title defense by third-round knockout to Mansour Barnaoui at M-1 Challenge 57. In his last fight, Artiom Damkovsky knocked out Divnich with a kick in the second-round of their fight this past September at M-1 Challenge 70. INFORMATION: www.M1Global.tv www.mixfight.ru www.wmmaa.org Twitter & Instagram: @M1GlobalNews @VFinkelchtein @M1Global Facebook: www.facebook.com/M-1-GlobalNews M-1 CHALLENGE EVENT CALENDAR: M-1 Challenge 74 - Feb. 18, 2017 - St. Petersburg, Russia M-1 Challenge 75 - March 3, 2017 - Moscow, Russia ABOUT M-1 GLOBAL: Founded in 1997, M-1 Global has established itself in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) as the premier entity for discovering and developing the world's next-generation of superstar fighters. With its office in St Petersburg, Russia, the M-1 brand has staged more than 160 events worldwide, including M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Global and M-1 Global HWGP events, in addition to co-promoting Strikeforce events and M-1 Global on the U.S. network, Showtime. Captivating live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups, M-1 Global events have featured some of the sport's top names, including legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem, Keith Jardine, Ben Rothwell, Melvin Manhoef, Sergei Kharitonov, Aleksander Emelianenko, Roman Zentsov, Yushin Okami, Mike Pyle, Denis Kang, Martin Kampmann, Amar Suloev, Chalid Arrab and Stephan Struve. 2017 promises to be another sensational year of world-class competition, featuring a full calendar of Challenge events, fueled by a talent-rich contention system ranking M-1 Global Champions among the greatest fighters in the sport. ABOUT M-1GLOBAL.TV: Enjoy MMA action now in high definition brought to you by M-1Global.tv, offering only the best fights from M-1 Global and other MMA organizations. M-1Global.tv is a great platform developed specifically to bring together the most exhaustive fight video database. It also provides an easy and intuitive interface, helping everyone to start using the platform in no time while avoiding any spoilers. Besides watching the past fights on demand at any time convenient to the customer, viewers are able to enjoy the action LIVE, all available to M-1Global.tv users through a low-priced month to month digital subscription. Your world of action. Anytime!
