CHELYABINSK, Rusland (Junie 1, 2018) – Brazilian middleweight Bruno Silva shocked Alexander Shlemenko with an opening round stoppage to set-up a potential showdown with M-1 Challenge champion Artiom Frolov, who defeated American challenger Joe “Diesel” Riggs earlier this evening (Vrydag) by M-1 Challenge 93 in Chelyabinsk, Rusland.

To say the least, Silva (18-6-0) was impressive in his M-1 Global debut, knocking out the former Bellator champion Shlemenko (56-11-1), by die 2:54 van die eerste ronde. Russian star Shlemenko, who was the M-1 Grand Prix middleweight champion, had been 6-0-0 in M-1 Global competition going into The Rage to take on Silva in the main event.

Silva trapped Shlemenko on the ropes and unloaded a powerful barrage of punches to the head and body, as well as one well-executed knee to the face, leaving the Russian star out cold on his feet and the stunned crowed silent.

In die mede-featured gebeurtenis, Frolov improved his perfect MMA pro record to 11-0-0, 8-0-0 in M-1 fights, when the doctor stopped the fight in the second round due to a knee injury suffered by Riggs, the former UFC fighter.

Ukrainian flyweight Alexander Pletenko (14-4-0), also fighting for the first time in an M-1 Global event, won a third-round unanimous decision over Chris Kelades (12-4-0), the native of Greece who lives in Canada.

Russiese liggewig Alexey Makhno (18-6-0) took a three-round unanimous decision fromRogerio Karranza (13-4-0), van Brasilië, while Finnish flyweight Mikael Silander (18-6-0) choked Nureles Aidarov (3-1-0), van Kyrgyzstan, in 'n eerste-ronde voorlegging.

Op die voorlopige card, Russian heavyweights Yuriy Fedorov (1-0-0) in his pro debut andNikolay Savilov (12-3-0) both used ground-and-pound attacks to defeat, onderskeidelik, French heavyweight Charles-Henri Lucien (0-2-0) in round one and Nikolay Rachek (7-6-0), van Rusland, in the third frame.

In a battle of Russian middleweights, Vladimir Migovich (1-2-0) het 'n drie-round eenparig besluit oor Nikita Novikoov (5-3-0), South African middleweight Mark Hulme (6-2-0) submitted his Russian opponent, Vadim Shabadash (7-3-0), via a rear naked choke in the opening round.

Russiese liggewig Magomed Magomedov (9-2-0) won a three-round split decision over his countryman, Nikita Podkovalnikov (2-1-0), Russiese kapokgewig Sergey KlyuevSe (6-1-0) kimura forced previously undefeated Ilya Karetnikov (4-1-0), van Rusland, into first-round submission, en Pierre Ludet (4-0-0), van Frankryk, locked a rear naked choke on Russian flyweight Egor Filidov (0-1-0) vir 'n eerste ronde oorwinning deur die voorlegging.

Silva celebrated after his shocking vicrory over Shlemenko

STILL THE CHAMP: Artiom Frolov has his hand raised in victory

(L) Alexander Pletenko won his M-1 Global debut

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