ST. 聖彼得堡, 俄羅斯 (十二月 15, 2015) – M-1 Global has announced its signing of Russian heavyweight sensation 亞歷山大 “德拉戈” 沃爾科夫 (24-6-0, M-1的: 8-3-0) 以獨家推廣合同.

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的挑戰 64 在莫斯科, 俄羅斯.

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的挑戰 2009, 擊敗 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全球: 費多爾VS. Monson.

在那時候, 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 Ricco Rodriguez.

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·羅傑斯, 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, 美國.

In his first fight of 2013, Volkov lost his Bellator heavyweight title in his first defense, as fellow countryman 維塔利Minakov recorded a first-round knockout in Atlantic City, 新澤西州, 美國.

然而, Volkov rebounded with three straight wins in the Bellator Season 10 重量級錦標賽, defeating Bulgarian great Blaygoy Ivanov in the final by way of a second-round rear-naked choke hold. Ivanov is best known, 也許, for defeating living legend 費多爾艾米連科 in the semifinals on his way to winning the 2008 World Sambo Championships.

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

沃爾科夫 (pictured above to left) makes his M-1 Global return against Smoldarev, 愛沙尼亞, whose only loss as a professional was to 馬爾欽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 (嗆), 在 M-1的挑戰 54 在北京, 中國.

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

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