Aleksander Emelianenko (19-5), who has had quite a checkered career in MMA thus far, stepped back in to the M-1 ring last night in St. Petersburg’s Ice Palace at M-1 Challenge 31. He faced Lithuanian super heavyweight Tadas Rimkevicius (19-7) in the main event of the show, and had brother Fedor Emelianenko in his corner.
The bout was pretty entertaining. Other than some brief clinching early, it was a slugfest for the whole first round. Emelianenko bloodied up Rimkevicius’ face, but Tadas responded with a shot that dropped Aleks E. near the end of the round. Watch for Rimkevicius’ amazing flying submission attempt with about 50 seconds to go in the round as well.
The standnbang continues in the second under the bout is halted, in a somewhat underwhelming finish.
M-1 Challenge 31 Results:
Jeff Monson def. Alexey Oleinik via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Alexander Emelianenko def. Tadas Rimkevičius via TKO (punches) at 1:52 of round 2
Rashid Magomedov def. Yasubey Enomoto via unanimous decision (50-45, 49-47, 50-45)
Alexander Yakovlev def. Shamil Zavurov via TKO (retirement) at 5:00 of round 3
Deniss Smoldarev def. Denis Komkin via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Abdulmajid Magomedov def. Arthur Shumakov via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:53 of round 1
Vugar Bakhshiev def. Jerome Bouisson via TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 of round 2
Marat Gafurov def. David Kozma via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:10 of round 2
Ilya Doderkin def. Alexey Martynov via submission (triangle choke) at 1:57 of round 1
Bruno Carvalho def. Ramazan Esenbaev via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
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