M-1 Global: Former champ Guram Gugenishvili killed in car accident

Former M-1 Global heavyweight champion Guram Gugenishvili died in a car accident this weekend in his native Georgia, officials today announced.

Details of the accident weren’t disclosed.

Gugenishvili, 28, was a five-year pro who spent the bulk of his career with the Russian-based M-1 promotion.

“He was a great athlete and a kind, open-hearted person,” a statement on the organization’s Facebook page read. “RIP Guram.”

Gugenishvili won M-1 Ukraine, M-1 Selection Western Europe and M-1 Global titles during his career. He won his first 10 pro fights, nine via submission (and eight in the first round), before a pair of losses to Kenny Garner to close out the duo’s championship trilogy of fights.

After a 16-month break from the sport to recover from injuries, Gugenishvili returned to competition in April and scored a TKO victory over ONE FC and KOTC vet Tony Bonello at an IGF show in Japan. According to M-1, Gugenishvili planned to fight once more for IGF before year’s end and then return to M-1 in 2015.

Back in 2011, Gugenishvili traveled to the U.S. to train in Las Vegas with Xtreme Couture. While in the country, he stopped by the MMAjunkie Radio studio and discussed his childhood, in which he played forward on the Georgian junior national soccer team. A cousin, a former world and European arm-wrestling champion, initially got him involved in sports, which soon led to an interest in combat sports.

“Then I started to watch MMA a little bit,” Gugenishvili said. “Little by little, step by step, that’s how I realized that I really like it and I really want to go and try it myself.”