M-1 Global Results: Showtime Debut a Success with a Night of Exciting Fights

The first ever M-1 Global card on Showtime produced a night of exciting fights, dominant performances and some very impressive finishes.

American Top Team fighter Jose Figueroa made the most of his appearance in M-1 Global on Friday night as he left Artiom Damkovsky a bloody mess, while also taking home the lightweight title to cap off the first ever Showtime broadcast for the promotion.

Figueroa didn’t seem to comfortable on the feet standing and trading with Damkovsky in the early going, but once he got the fight to the ground, it was a completely different fight. The American Top Team fighter opened up a blistering ground attack immediately when getting Damkovsky to the mat, and he never relented.

Figueroa couldn’t quite put the fight away in the first round, but he wasn’t about to let it slip away in the 2nd. Immediately putting Damkovsky on his back to start the second session, Figueroa moved to mount and started his onslaught again.

Damkovsky appeared to be defending, but still taking a massive amount of damage so the referee swooped in for the stoppage. Damkovsky’s corner was arguing, but from the looks of things their fighter was going nowhere except to take more damage from Figueroa.

Figueroa now becomes the new M-1 Global lightweight champion with his dominant performance on Friday night.

It was a valiant effort from Team Quest prospect Tyson Jeffries at M-1 Global on Friday night, but Magomed Sultanakhmedov wasn’t going to let a good chin stop him from getting a TKO as he walked out with the middleweight championship when it was over.

A blistering attack came from Sultanakhmedov throughout the fight, first shutting down the ground attack from Jeffries, and then lighting up his opponent with strikes.

The end brought a nasty barrage of knees from Sultanakhmedov, absolutely destroying Jeffries, but it took a true onslaught to finally drop the game middleweight. Finally, Jeffries succumbed to the strikes and dropped to the mat, as the referee rushed in for the save.

Magomed Sultanakhmedov may have a difficult name to pronounce, but get used to saying it because he proved to be a top prospect to be on the lookout for in 2011 with his win Friday night in M-1 Global.

Ending up on the mat with former “Ultimate Fighter” finalist Vinny Magalhaes was probably the last place in the world Jake Doerr wanted to end up during their light heavyweight bout at M-1 Global, but just seconds into the first round that’s where the fight landed.

Magalhaes popped Doerr with a big punch as soon as the two fighters met in the center of the ring, and immediately the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt pounced on him like a hunter smelling his prey. Magalhaes was unrelenting in his ground attack and after taking Doerr’s back, instead of locking up a submission, he opened up his assault and within a few moments he got the stoppage.

Magalhaes looked extremely impressive rolling over Doerr to pick up his third win in a row, 2nd in M-1 Global.

Jason Norwood put on a takedown clinic against Ohio fighter Mojo Horne in their fight on Friday night, going home with a unanimous decision win.

Horne tried his best to catch Norwood with knees or anything that could stop the wrestling from Norwood, but he simply wasn’t able to stop the fight from hitting the canvas. Norwood slammed Horne over and over again, and during the third round got the mount, but wasn’t able to put the fight away.

Still, Norwood dominated the majority of the match-up and picked up the win in unanimous fashion.

Russian Alexander Sarnavskiy started things off with a one sided beat down of American Beau Baker to start the first ever M-1 Global card on Showtime.

Sarnavskiy stymied every takedown attempt that Baker through at him, and time and time again pummeled his opponent with strikes. Baker was tough to finish however and it appeared that Sarnavskiy might gas himself out trying to head hunt for the knockout.

The 2nd round looked much like the first, but after a scramble, Sarnavskiy saw an opening to take his opponent’s back, and literally jumped up on Baker, looking for the finish. As the fighters fell to the mat, Sarnavskiy latched his arm under Baker’s chin, and the American had no choice but to tap out.