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In case you missed it, and you probably did, there was an M-1 Global show this afternoon.

Featuring a headlining bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Pedro Rizzo, diehard fans, or people with nothing to do during the day, were treated to a relatively good card, with some exciting fights.

Mikhail Malyutin took on Renat Gasanov to open the show, and it was pretty sloppy. Between the two fighters slipping and sliding around the ring, to the M-1 level grappling battles that ensued, it was tough to watch. Malyutin managed to get the better of his foe on the mat though, and finished Gasanov with strikes in the first frame.

Marat Gafurov and Mairbek Taisumov went toe to toe for the full fifteen minutes, but the attention was not on the fight, it was on the poor judging. Taisumov outlanded his opponent and very clearly won all three rounds of the bout, only to lose a split decision to the unbeaten prospect Gafurov.

Jeff Monson picked up yet another quick submission win. The veteran pulled guard on Denis Komkin, swept to get top control, and finished his opponent with a north-south choke in the first round.

The M-1 lightweight strap was defended as Musa Khamanaev made short work Daniel Weichel with a deep heel hook. Khamanaev his opponent down early, and that was all he needed to do, grabbing a leg and forcing the tap at 1:48 of round 1.

Low-level heavyweight MMA was on full display as Guram Gugenishvili took on Kenny Garner for the M-1 Global heavyweight championship. With slippery grappling, and amusing displays of poor endurance, the two big men exchanged blows on the feet, and on the mat, with each getting more and more exhausted as the fight went on. In the third round, Garner suffered a pretty serious gash around his eye, but persevered and put on a strong showing to end the round. Gugenishvili took awhile to get up following the round, and didn’t answer the bell for the fourth. He walked out of the ring, and out of the fight.

In the main event, Fedor Emelianenko looked every bit his old self, though his performance was perhaps overshadowed by how little the bout meant. After a few slow exchanges, where Rizzo hardly engaged, Fedor started landing left hooks that obviously flustered the Brazilian. Less than two minutes into the bout, Fedor dropped Rizzo, followed him to the mat, and knocked him out cold with some vicious ground and pound.

Results

• Mikhail Malyutin def. Renat Gasanov via TKO (Punches) at 3:16 of Round One
• Marat Gafurov def. Mairbek Taisumov via Split Decision
• Jeff Monson def. Denis Komkin via Submission (North-South Choke) in Round One
• Musa Khamanaev def. Daniel Weichel via Submission (Heel Hook) at 1:48 of Round One
• Kenny Garner def. Guram Gugenishvili via TKO (Retirement) at 5:00 of Round Three
• Fedor Emelianenko def. Pedro Rizzo via Knockout (Punches) at 1:24 of Round One

Photo Credit: M-1 Global

Like the yin to every yang, the Lone Ranger to every Tonto, and the oozing strawberry jelly to every organic peanut butter slathered on a slice of whole wheat bread, comes the official “worst of” 2011 list, which is meant to offset all the “best of” gospel of Monday’s post. Just as every year before it, 2011 had its moments of glory, when for the briefest of instances the sport was elevated to something more than just two dudes (or dudettes) bashing each other. Of course, there were also instances when you just knew you were watching something that people would be talking about years from now, and not in a good way. So! The “worst of” 2011! Enjoy!

-Worst Destruction of a Limb by a Male: Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira II, UFC 140 – If the former UFC heavyweight champ keeps broking bones, you have to wonder if future fighter contracts will contain a “Frank Mir Clause”, which promises some sort of additional payout if the submission-savvy lug does what he did to Tim Sylvia and “Big Nog”. And damn, what he did to Nogueira… that’s the stuff nightmares are made of. Sure, a ton of responsibility for the arm-breaking finish rests on the shoulders of the Brazilian – homeboy should’ve tapped long before bones began snapping – but the common denominator in two of the worst submission-related injuries in the Octagon have been Mir. THANK THE LORD THAT FIGHT DIDN’T AIR LIVE ON FOX.

-Worst Destruction of a Limb by a Female: Ronda Rousey vs. Julia Budd, Strikeforce Challengers 20 – Rousey proved to be too fast for the referee to react at Strikeforce Challengers 18, and when a crapstorm arose from her releasing her armbar on Sarah D’Alelio before the ref could step in, she vowed to rip the damn thing off next time. Well, Rousey is a woman of her word. At Strikeforce Challengers 20, she made Budd’s elbow bend in a direction it was never meant to bend, and she held the suddenly-useless appendage until the referee pried it from her uncaring hands. Think there will soon be a “Ronda Rousey Clause” in fighter contracts as well? I certainly do.

-Worst Comeback Fight: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jeff Monson, M-1 Global’s “Fedor vs. Monson” – After rattling off three consecutive losses, the once-unbeatable Fedor was in desperate need of a win, so in that regard, you can’t fault the legendary fighter for taking an “easy” fight against perpetual journeyman Monson. But damn, if you’re going to defeat someone who a mere two years before wouldn’t have been worthy of dry cleaning your sweater, you better not make it lackluster – which is more or less what happened when Fedor earned his unanimous decision win over the American grappler. Did Monson’s anarchistic tendencies throw the Russian off? Or was it just an example of how high the mighty have fallen? I don’t know. I don’t really care, either. I just want the man who was for the longest time the greatest heavyweight in the world to fight – or retire – with dignity.

-Worst Resolution to a Tournament: Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos, Bellator 59 – Nothing says vale tudo like a soccer kick to the nuts. Unfortunately, vale tudo isn’t the rule set the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board uses when it sanctions MMA bouts, so when the Brazilian behemoth Santos punted Prindle’s junk, that signaled the anticlimactic end to Bellator’s Season Five heavyweight tournament machinations. The fight was ruled a “no contest” for reasons that escape logic, so the two hulks will get to resolve things when Season Six rolls around.

-Worst Athletic Commission for Brazilians: Arizona – If Marcos Galvao forevermore declines taking fights in Arizona, everyone in the world should respect that. He did, after all, get royally screwed in what should’ve been two clear-cut decisions against Joe Warren (at Bellator 41) and Alexis Vila (Bellator 55). Arizona State Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Commission, why do you hate Brazilians?

-Worst Performance Before a Hometown Crowd: Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung, UFC 140 – Seven seconds. That’s how long it took the “Korean Zombie” to counter Hominick’s overly-aggressive one-punch assault with a storm of leather at UFC 140 in Toronto. As a Canadian hero who went the distance with the champ in his last trip to the cage, Hominick could not have screwed the hometown pooch any worse.

With all of the great fights last night, it would be easy to forget that Fedor Emelianenko returned to action this morning against Jeff Monson. Compared to the epic battles that Shogun Rua, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler fought in last night, it was a bit of a snoozer, but that’s not really a fair comparison considering last night was more or less a perfect storm of the most exciting action this sport has to offer.

In short, Fedor vs. Monson was a more entertaining version of Overeem vs. Werdum 2. Unlike the Fedor who went after Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson with reckless abandon, we saw a much more tactical Fedor Emelianenko in the ring this morning. Rather than beat Monson at his own game like he’s done to countless opponents throughout his career, Fedor chose to keep it standing where Monson was no match for the former heavyweight king. For three straight rounds, Fedor stood at range and picked Monson apart with punches and leg kicks. Every time Monson tried to close the distance and secure a take down, Fedor either sprawled, tossed him to the mat or reversed it and landed in top position. In the few instances Fedor did find himself on the ground with Monson, he wisely just stood up instead of engaging Monson in a grappling match.

The strategy didn’t result in the most exciting performance Fedor has ever turned in, but it worked and Fedor snapped his three-fight losing streak with a much-needed win.

Fedor’s next fight isn’t set in stone, but M-1 Global hinted after the fight that Fedor could take on Satoshi Ishii on the DREAM New Year! 2011 card. As you may remember, the Olympic gold-medalist came into the sport with a lot of hype a couple years ago, but thus far hasn’t lived up to expectations. Simply put, it’s a gimme fight for Fedor if it goes down.

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The M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Monson” weigh-ins took place early this morning in Russia.

Fedor Emelianenko put on a considerable amount of weight since he fought Dan Henderson. He was up from 223 to 238 pounds for today’s weigh-in.

The weigh-in results:

• Fedor Emelianenko (238.3) vs. Jeff Monson (238.1)
• Jose Figueroa (155.4) vs. Daniel Weichel (154.5)
• Juan Manuel Suarez (169.5) vs. Alexander Yakovlev (169.8)
• Mairbek Taisumov (155) vs. Joshua Thorpe (155.4)
• Albert Duraev (182.3) vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam (184.5)
• Jerome Bouisson (153.2) vs. Yuri Ivlev (153.7)
• Arsen Abdulkerimov (251.1) vs. Alexander Volkov (229.3)
• Salim Davidov (205.5) vs. Sergey Kornev (204.6)
• Mikhail Malyutin (152.3) vs. Seydina Seck (155.4)
• Nikolai Kaushansky (151.9) vs. Alexander Vinogradov (150.8)

M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Monson” takes place early tomorrow morning at Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia and will air live on pay-per-view at 7:30am ET.

Image via M-1 Global

North American broadcast details have finally been announced for the Nov. 20 M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Monson” card.

If you want want to watch the former heavyweight king, Fedor Emelianenko, take on Jeff Monson and possibly break his three-fight losing streak, it’s going to cost you. More specifically, it’s going to cost you $29.95 and a good night’s sleep.

Integrated Sports Media, the company M-1 Global partnered with to distribute the pay-per-view released the pay-per-view price and live viewing times in a press release this morning.

“Fedor vs. Monson,” presented by M-1 Global, is being distributed in the United States by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 7:30 AM/ET – 4:30 AM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, DISH Network and Avail-TVN, for a suggested retail price of only $29.95. Check listings for same-day replays.

“We’re excited to be bringing Fedor’s comeback to North American MMA fans,” Integrated Sports Media president Doug Jacobs said. “Everybody wants to know what the great Fedor has left and Monson, who is an extremely dangerous veteran, figures to up to the challenge of fighting Emelianko in his backyard. If fans aren’t able to watch live, we will be offering same day and night replays so nobody has to miss the action.”

“Fedor has been very vocal about wanting to continue his fighting career,” noted Evgeni Kogan, Director of Operations for M-1 Global, Europe’s undisputed MMA leader in Europe. “Fedor vs. Monson is a classic that had been in crosshairs for years. All parties have come together to make this fight a reality.”

“Only $29.95.” At 7:30 in the morning. What a deal!

I got to say you would have to be a pretty die-hard Fedor fan to get up that early and spend $30 to see Fedor fight Jeff Monson. Anyone gonna do it?

Image via MixFight.ru

M-1 Global held a press conference in Russia over the weekend for their upcoming Nov. 20 card which will feature Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jeff Monson in the main event.

As expected, both Fedor and Monson were very respectful and complimentary of each other at the presser. Both also look forward to fighting in Russia. Translation via LowKick:

Fedor: “I’m very happy to fight at home. Since the majority of my fights took place in Japan or United States, I’m happy to be fighting in Russia again after 4 years. I would like to thank Jeff Monson for the opportunity to fight him, I always followed his career and hope that we’ll be able to show a beautiful fight for the fans… During my last three fights I always had a feeling that I can win. But somehow, in the last moment something always went wrong.”

Monson: “I always wanted to fight in Russia. I travel a lot as a fighter, but somehow I never fought in Russia. It’s a wonderful country with a lot of interesting places and people, but after all, I’m here to fight. Fedor Emelianenko is one of the greatest fighters on the planet and I’m honored to step inside the ring with him… I wanted to fight Fedor for a very long time, simply because he’s the best. It’s a very special fight and I’m definitely going to be well-prepared for that.”

The event will take place at the Olimpiskiy Sports Complex in Moscow. M-1′s Vadim Finkelchtein says 22,000 seats will be available at the venue and ticket prices will range from $10 all the way up to $3,100 for ringside seats.

Broadcast plans are still up in the air, but M-1′s Evegni Kogan says they’re exploring their options with Showtime and other potential broadcast partners to air it live in North America.

“We’re still in talks with Showtime as well as several other possibilities to show this fight in North America,” M-1 Global’s Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan said. “I guess there’s not a huge amount of time left to do a deal, so maybe within two or three week’s we will have something sorted, but it everything is continuing. I think it’s very likely that the bout will be live in North America, albeit, very early on the Sunday morning in the U.S., especially on the West Coast.”

Well, even if we miss that one, there’s always New Year’s Eve. Fedor added that they’re currently in talks to land him a NYE fight in Japan.

You can check out more pics of the press conference and a photo gallery of an autograph signing at MixFight.ru. If the turnout for the signing is any indication, this fight is going to be a big deal in Russia.

M-1 Global has finally confirmed an expected heavyweight bout between their Fedor Emelianenko and Jeff Monson.

Monson revealed the fight earlier this month, claiming it would take place on Nov. 12 in Russia. Monson had the location right, but not the date. With the UFC’s big FOX debut and a Manny Pacquiao fight already scheduled for Nov. 12, M-1 has settled on Nov. 20 instead.

The fight will take place at Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The broadcast plans for the fight are unknown, but Showtime is believed to be a possibility. Hopefully we’ll get to see it one way or another.

Image via Esther Lin for Strikeforce/Showtime

Vadim Finkelchtein confirmed over the weekend that Fedor Emelianenko was set to fight in a M-1 Global event in Russia sometime in “late fall.” What Finkelchtein didn’t reveal though was Fedor’s opponent.

The good news is we didn’t have to wait long to find out who it is because Jeff Monson just let the cat out of the bag over Twitter earlier this evening. Monson says he’ll be facing the former heavyweight king on Nov. 12, which coincidentally happens to be the same day as the UFC’s first FOX event.

While I’m sure many will fans will let out a collective sigh over the news, Monson is about the best we could hope for given Zuffa’s stranglehold on the world’s top talent.

Update: M-1 Global is stressing that nothing is official yet regarding Fedor Emelianenko’s next fight including his opponent, date or location, but they expect to make an announcement soon.

A few observations from Strikeforce: “Overeem vs. Werdum”:

-Chad Griggs, a.k.a. “King Muttonchops”, is like the Little Engine That Could.  Of course, last night that “could” involved nothing more than beating up someone who looked like they didn’t really want to be there, but hey, that’s something, right?  Right?

-Jeff Monson: takes a licking but keeps on… taking a licking.  (Google “Timex watches” if you don’t know where that slogan is from, kid.)

-The beauty of Jorge Masvidal’s striking game is how seamlessly he blends his kicks – particularly the high-kicks – with his punches and overall movement.  Also beautiful: how he can sometimes DESTROY people with it.

-I had no problem with Josh Barnett taking the microphone and giving a pro-wrestling-esque post-fight speech.  Beats the hell out of the usual drivel that comes out a fighters’ mouths.

-The following words apply to the bout between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum: lackluster, underwhelming, embarrassing, ridiculous, shameful, disgraceful, silly.  Feel free to use these words as talking points at your next Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix cocktail party.

Strikeforce “Overeem vs. Werdum” takes place later tonight at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. The event airs on Showtime at 10pm ET/PT. The broadcast will be preceded by a prelim special on HDNet at 8pm ET.

In the main event, Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum meet in a Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal bout.

In the co-main event, Josh Barnett and Brett Rogers meet in the other Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal.

In other heavyweight grand prix action, Jeff Monson takes on Daniel Cormier in a reserve bout.

Chad Griggs and Valentijn Overeem meet in the other reserve bout.

KJ Noons and Jorge Masvidal fight for a potential lightweight title shot against Gilbert Melendez.

Results and recap after the jump.

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