ST. 圣彼得堡, 俄罗斯 (十二月 15, 2015) – M-1 Global has announced its signing of Russian heavyweight sensation 亚历山大 “德拉戈” 沃尔科夫 (24-6-0, M-1的: 8-3-0) 以独家推广合同.

Volkov will battle 丹尼斯Smoldarev (11-1-0, M-1的: 7-1-0) 二月 19 for the vacant M-1 Challenge heavyweight championship at M-1的挑战 64 在莫斯科, 俄罗斯.

The 27-year-old puncher from Moscow returns to the organization in which he made his professional mixed-martial-arts debut April 19, 2009, needing only 80-seconds to stop Nikolay Pleshokov in the second stage of the M-1 Challenge 2009. Volkov went on to capture top honors in the finals of the M-1的挑战 2009, 击败 Ibragim Magomedov for the Russian Team Championships.

6′ 7″, 235-pound Volkov fought under the M-1 Global banner for the next two years, highlighted November 20, 2011 by his opening round punch-out of 在...前面 20,000 fans at M-1的全球: 费多尔VS. Monson.

在那时候, Volkov had won 14 的 17 pro MMA fights and the popular Russian fighter opened 2012 with an impressive decision win over former UFC heavyweight champion 里科·罗德里格斯.

Volkov had another victory before heading to the United States in order to test himself in Bellator competition. He won his inaugural Bellator fight against powerful 布雷特·罗杰斯, by decision at Bellator 75, in the Bellator Season Seven Heavyweight Tournament.

Two Bellator fights later, Volkov had extended his win streak to 10 in a row, improving overall to 19-3-0 via five-round decision over Richard Hale to capture the vacant Bellator Heavyweight Championship, as well as finish first in the Bellator Season Seven Heavyweight Tournament in Hammond, 印地安那, 美国.

In his first fight of 2013, Volkov lost his Bellator heavyweight title in his first defense, as fellow countryman 维塔利Minakov recorded a first-round knockout in Atlantic City, 新泽西州, 美国.

然而, Volkov rebounded with three straight wins in the Bellator Season 10 重量级锦标赛, defeating Bulgarian great Blaygoy Ivanov in the final by way of a second-round rear-naked choke hold. Ivanov is best known, 也许, for defeating living legend 费多尔艾米连科 in the semifinals on his way to winning the 2008 世界桑搏锦标赛.

Feared as one of the most prolific strikers in MMA today, 17 of Volkov’s 24 overall victims to date were knocked out.

沃尔科夫 (pictured above to left) makes his M-1 Global return against Smoldarev, 爱沙尼亚, whose only loss as a professional was to 马尔钦Tybura (13-1-0, M-1的: 7-1-0), who abdicated his M-1 Challenge heavyweight title to reportedly continue his career in the UFC. Tybura made his first successful M-1 Challenge heavyweight title defense November 24, 2014, defeating Smoldarev by third-round submission (呛), 在 M-1的挑战 54 在北京, 中国.

The 25-year-old Smoldarev (shown above in the black trunks) has impressive victories against Ante Delia, 马老霹雳, Ahmed Sultanov 和 Shaban Ka. Smoldarev is also a physical specimen, 身高6′ 5″ and weighing close to 270 英镑.

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