SOCHI, Russia (October 11, 2015) – M-1 Challenge featherweight champion Ivan “Buki” Buchinger successfully defended his title last night with a hard fought five-round unanimous decision over Mansour “Tarzan” Barnaoui in the M-1 Challenge 62 main event at The Ice Cube Curling Center in Sochi, Russia.
Buchinger (30-4-0, 7 KO/TKO, 16 SUB), fighting out of Slovakia, improved his M-1 Global record to a perfect 5-0 with his second title defense victory. He originally captured his title belt a year ago, stopping Tural Ragimov in the fourth round at M-1 Challenge 52.
Barnaoui (12-3-0, 4 KO/TKO, 7 SUB), of Paris, relinguished his M-1 Challenge lightweight title belt he won this past May in his M-1 Global debut, when he knocked out Maxim Divnich via punches at M-1 Challenge 57.
Former M-1 Challenge middleweight champion Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (27-3-0, 11 KO/TKO, 7 SUB), of Russia, used a rear naked choke for a win by second-round submission against Croatian opponent Kristijan “Pacman” Perak (8-2-1, 3 KO/TKO, 2 SUB).
Russian featherweight Kurbanali Abdusalamov (6-2-0, 1 KO/TKO, 3 SUB) won a decision over American invader Lee “American Bulldog” Morrison (14-6-0, 4 KO/TKO, 4 SUB), while red-hot Russian light heavyweight prospect Adam “The Beard” Yandiev (9-0-0, 3 KO/TKO, 6 SUB) defeated Demitry Voitov (10-5-0, 4 KO/TKO, 4 SUB) by way of an opening-round neck crank.
Rounding out the main card, Russian welterweight Alexey Kunchenko (10-0-0, 8 KO/TKO, 2 SUB) continued on his roll, punching out Brazilian Alexandre “Sangue” Ramos (9-3-0 (1 KO/TKO, 7 SUB) in the first round.
Fighting on the preliminary card, Spainard Enoc Solves Torres (17-9-0) won by armbar in the opening round versus Georgian middleweight Nodar Kudukjasvili (10-2-0), Ukrainian featherweight Andrey “Iron” Leshnev (8-4-0) won a three-round decision over Russian favorite Nikita “Piranha” Chistyakov (4-2-1), and Russian Delgat Kudbudinov (3-0-0) submitted Italian Georgia Belsanti (4-5-0) by way of a neck crank.
Also fighting on the preliminary card, Ukrainian lightweight Sergey Astapov (6-4-0) locked a rear naked choke on Russian Nikolay Kaushansky (6-3-0) for a third-round win by submission. Ukrainian light heavyweight Boris Polezhay (9-5-0) opened the night with a first-round submission victory via an arm-bar over previously unbeaten Russian Alexey Shopin (3-1-0).
Complete results below:
MAIN CARD
M-1 CHALLENGE FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Ivan Buchinger (30-4-0), Slovakia WDEC5 Mansour Barnaoui (12-3-0), Challenger, France (Buchinger retained M-1 Challenge featherweight title)
MIDDLEWEIGHTS Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (27-3-0), Russia WSUB2 (Rear Naked Choke – 1:02) Kristijan Perak (8-2-0), Croatia2
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS Adam Yandiev (9-0-0), Russia WSUB1 (Neck Crank – 4:34) Dmitry Voitov (10-5-0), Belarus
WELTERWEIGHTS Alexey Kunchenko (10-0-0), Russia WKO/TKO1 (Punches – 4:32) Alexandre Ramos (9-3-0), Brazil
FEATHERWEIGHTS Kurbanali Abdusalamov (6-2-0), Russia WDEC3 Lee Morrison (14-6-0), USA
PRELIMINARY CARD
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS Boris Polezhay (9-5-0), Ukraine WSUB1 (Armbar – 4:39) Alexey Shopin (3-1-0), Russia
MIDDLEWEIGHTS Enoc Solves Torres (17-9-0), Spain WSUB1 (Armbar – 1:54) Nodar Kudukjasvali (10-2-0), George
LIGHTWEIGHTS Sergey Astapov (5-4-0), Ukraine WSUB3 (Rear Naked Choke – 3:26) Nikolay Kaushansky (6-2-0), Russia
FEATHERWEIGHTS Andrey Leshnev (8-4-0), Ukraine WDEC3 Nikita Chistyakov (4-2-1), Russia
Giorgio Belsanti (5-4-0), Italy WSUB1 (Neck Crank – 3:25 Delgat Kudbudinov (2-1-0), Russia
