ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Jan. 21, 2015) – M-1 Global’s 2015 season-opening event, M-1 Challenge 55: Guram Gugenishvili Memorial Show, is gradually developing into an exciting, stacked event on February 21 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The latest fights to be added to M-1 Challenge 55, dedicated to the memory of the first M-1 Challenge heavyweight champion, Guran Gugenishvili, is an intriguing middleweight clash between American invader Luigi “The Italian Tank” Fioravanti and Georgian favorite Nodar Kudukhashvili, along with undefeated featherweight prospect Pavel Vitruk taking on upset-minded Max Coga.
Last week, M-1 Global announced two heavyweight fights for M-1 Challenge 55: past M-1 Challenge title challenger Denis Smoldarev (9-1-0, 3 KO/TKO, 4 SUB), of Estonia, vs. Croatian challenger Maro Perak (23-4-1, 12 KO/TKO, 7 SUB), as well as former M-1 Challenge heavyweight champion Kenny “Deuce” Garner (14-8-0, 7 KO/TKO, 3 SUB), of America, vs. Chechen prospect Aslambek “Titan” Musaev(5-1-0, 1 KO/TKO, 2 SUB).
M-1 Challenge 55 will be streamed live 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 of the action on their computers, as well as on Andriod and Apple smart phones and tablets.
Fioravanti (25-12-0, 10 KO/TKO, 6 SUB), fighting out of Florida, is coming off of an impressive first-round stoppage (punches) of
Ruslan Khaskhanov this past December at
M-1 Challenge 54 & ACB 12. He recently signed a new promotional contract with M-1 Global.
The 33-year-old Italian-American joined the U.S. Marines after graduating from high school. He started training in kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in California and Iraq while active in the military. Fioravanti, who holds a second-degree black belt in Pancrase Pankration, has won three of his last four fights
Kudukhashvili (7-1-0, 2 KO/TKO, 3 SUB) is considered one of the strongest of a new generation of Georgian MMA fighters. In 2013, he won the WMMAA championships, defeating Russian champion Shamil Abdulaev in the final competition.
In eight professional MMA fights to date, Kudukhashvili has lost only once, by third-round decision to Jamaican-born Uriah “Prime Time” Hall, winner of the The Ultimate Fighter 17. Kudukhashvili will be making his M-1 Global debut against Fioravanti.
The 24-year-old Vitruk (12-0-0, 3 KO/TKO, 2 SUB) , fighting out of Ukraine, is a rising M-1 Challenge star with a perfect 5-0 record in M-1 Challenge competition dating back to 2013 at M-1 Challenge: Fedor vs. Rizzo. Considered one of the best featherweight prospects in the MMA world today, Vitruk was 2-0 last year, defeating a pair of Brazilians challengers, Rafael Miranda (KO/TKO1 – punches) at M-1 Challenge 53 and Clayton Santos (SUB1 – punches) at M-1 Challenge 46.
Training out of the famed Alexander Nevsky Club in St. Petersburg, Russia, Vitruk has his sights firmly set on M-1 Challenge featherweight champion Ivan Buchinger, who is a Team MMA Spirit stablemate of Coga.
A lightweight champion at home in Germany, Coga will be in fighting in his second M-1 Challenge event having lost last May by first-round knockout (kick) to lightweight contender Max Divnich at M-1 Challenge 47.
The loss to Divnich resulted in a Team Coga decision for him to drop down one weight division to featherweight. In his last action, Coga bounced back strong with an impressive victory in his featherweight debut this past November at Fair FC 2, stopping previously undefeated (5-0-0 pro, 4-0-0 amateur records) Gabriel Sobo in the third round.
All fights and fighters are subject to change.
Fight Network will air M-1 Challenge 55 live on Cablevision’s Optimum TV, Grande Communications, Shentel Cable and Armstrong Cable in the U.S., as well as nationwide in Canada, Roku devices across North America, and globally in more than 30 countries throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
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ABOUT M-1 GLOBAL: Founded in 1997, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St Petersburg, Amsterdam and Los Angeles and affiliates in Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand has staged more than 150 events worldwide, including the M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge and M-1 Global and M-1 Global HWGP events, in addition to co-promoting Strikeforce events and M-1 Global on the Showtime network in the United States. Captivating live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and matchups, M-1 Global events have featured some of the sport’s top names, including Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Aleksander Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem, Keith Jardine, Ben Rothwell, Melvin Manhoef, Roman Zentsov, Yushin Okami, Mike Pyle, Denis Kang, Martin Kampmann, Amar Suloev, Chalid Arrab and Stephan Struve. 2014 promises to be another sensational year of world-class competition with a full calendar of Challenge events fueled by a talent-rich contention system ranking M-1 Global’s Champions amongst the greatest in the sport. M-1 Global’s greatest asset is renowned heavyweight fighter, Fedor Emelianenko.
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