Showtime Announces M-1 Challenge Event for March 16

Showtime Sports officials recently added M-1 Challenge to its 2012 television schedule. The event, expected to become M-1 Challenge 31, is slated for March 16 and will air at 11 p.m. ET, delayed on the west coast.

The Russian promotion held four United States-based events on Showtime in 2011, and it seems that trend will continue into this year. However, it is unknown at this time exactly how many events the promotion will broadcast, and the location of the upcoming show has not yet been revealed.

M-1 averaged roughly 171,000 viewers for its four Showtime-broadcast events in 2011. Most recently, the promotion held M-1 Challenge 30 on Dec. 9 at The Hanger in Costa Mesa, Calif. Yasubey Enomoto captured the organization’s welterweight title in dramatic fashion at the event, submitting reigning champion Shamil Zavurov with only 50 seconds remaining in the five-round championship headliner.