Video: Alexander Volkov vs. Denis Smoldarev from M-1 Challenge 64

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Ahead of the highly anticipated main event between Alexander Shlemenko and Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, a heavyweight title fight between former Bellator champ Alexander Volkov and Denis Smoldarev took place in the co-main event slot.

The contest lasted the better part of three rounds and was a lopsided affair until Volkov managed to find an opening for a slick submission. With one fight left on his M-1 Global contract, it will be interesting to see if Volkov opts to stick around with the promotion or try his luck in the UFC like his predecessor, Marcin Tybura, did.

M-1 Global released the full fight video for the entire main event, which includes English commentary from UFC veteran Ian Freeman and BloodyElbow.com’s own Karim Zidan.

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.