M-1 Challenge 48 Official Discussion

There you have it, the preliminary version of the next M-1 Challenge card has been released. The event in itself is kind of a fill-in, since the original M-1 Challenge 48 has been pushed back and finally renamed to M-1 Challenge 49 while this event was put in between and numbered 48.

The card itself, being a fill-in, is not as strong as usual. It has some fighters making their pro debuts and being in Kazakhstan, it also features some less (little) known Kazakhstan/Tajikistan/Georgian etc. fighters instead of the usual M-1 stars (a Battle of Nomads indeed). It also features Max Coga, who's trying to rebound after his last 15 seconds KO at the hands of the Swedish star Niklas Backstrom, which he's planning to accomplish by going up a weight class and taking on the undefeated Ukrainian Maxim Divnich.

The main event itself is "the fight that should have been". Dennis Smoldarev was supposed to meat Kostia Gluhov in the semi-finals of the M-1 Heavyweight Grand Prix in August last year, but due to an injury he sustained in training, the fight was scrapped. Gluhov instead got a bye to the finals, where he faced (and lost to) the tournament alternate and rising Polish star Marcin Tybura (who has then become the #1 contender for the M-1 HW Title before the champion got injured too). Since then Smoldarev has made his come back by defeating the Croatian HW star Ante Delija, while Gluhov, after losing to Tybura, has suffered a DQ "loss" to Mikhail Gazaev where after a very frustrating fight in which Gazaev kept crawling around on his knees with one hand constantly touching the ground to avoid striking exchanges he finally had enough in the 3rd round and KO'd Gazaev with a kick to the head when the former was making another of his monkey impressions. After that he decisively beat his former rival (and also former M-1 HW champion) Kenny Garner in a rematch and then made short work of Valentijn Overeem in another rematch to set up this fight.

In another "was supposed to be" battle the Ukrainian striker Pavel Vitruk faces his would-be opponent from March. In one of many shake-ups on the M-1 Challenge 46 card Vitruk and Spaniard Agoney Romero were finally scheduled to face each other... that is until (according to M-1) Romero lost his passport somewhere on the road between Spain and Germany and was forcibly deported back home on the day he was supposed to arrive in Saint Petersburg. Vitruk instead faced his 3rd opponent, the unknown Brazilian import Clayton Santos, whom he defeated without much trouble. Will this time Romero manage to finish his journey all the way to Kazakhstan or will he again be stopped somewhere along the way? Only time will tell.

The card will also be proceeded by six of the Asian WMMAA finals (one in each weight class), piggybacking on the M-1 card similar to the previous ones. So be prepared for it to start earlier than announced (the timer is set comfortably back this time to avoid any mishaps) and if you tune in to the stream early, don't be surprised to see some unfamiliar guys fighting in a mostly empty arena.

* Edited at 05.05.2014, 11:19 PM ET *

Sure is quiet in the building now

Hopefully someone Gifs it soon that was nasty . hope the guy is ok that was some scary **** .

Here is the Gif of the Smoldarev   fight for those who didn't see it  .

These fights have been lightning quick

here is the Knee ko from Amirli . his opponent had to get stretchered out

* Edited at 05.24.2014, 1:06 PM ET *

 Aslambek Musaev  def Arsen Abdurashidov   1 round sub 01:20




Anvar Amirli   def  Serik Tlekeev  1st round ko 01:00




Yusup Raisov   def   Zhalgasuly Zhumageldy  2 nd round sub 




Artur Odilbekov   def  Asif Tagiev  1st round sub 04:35




Dennis Smoldarev def Evgeni Guryanov   1st round sub   1:19



Agoney Romero   vs.   Pavel Vitruk   is not going to happen. The causes are being investigated.[passport issues]



Magomed Magomedov def  Paata Robakidze   3rd round UD


official results http://www.mixfight.ru/news/2014/5/24/on_line_challenge_48/


http://www.mixfight.ru/ [m-1 global russian version]

Looks like we can add a new chapter to "The Misadventures of Agoney Romero". After the previous fiasco Romero this time arrived on time and attended the weigh ins (and managed to make weight), posed for the pictures and everything, but then disappeared the next day. He didn't get on the bus with other fighters, he left his hotel room and he turned off his phone. After he didn't appear at the arena, a search has been started and when he missed the fight, the police was called in too. Romero was finally discovered at the airport at 3 in the morning desperately trying to find a plane to Spain. He couldn't explain why he felt the need to immediately return home.