M-1 Défi 68, Juin 16 at Yubileyny Sports Palace in St. Pétersbourg, Russie.

“We were in a very difficult situation after Ramazan Etmeev got injured,” Président M-1 Global Vadim Finkelchtein expliqué. “The whole event was in jeopardy. Si, maintenant, we’re grateful to Vyacheslav Vasilevsky for agreeing to step in and face Shlemenko in our M-1 Grand Prix finals being held on his (Vasilevsky) anniversaire.

“Due to our contract obligations, we were unable to postpone the event because it is officially included in the St. Pétersbourg Etconomic Forum, which is something every one of our fighters knew from the very beginning. There’s a paragraph in the Grand Prix fighters’ contract stating we can use one of the guys who fought in the semifinals of the tournament in case someone gets injured. Now we’re making one of the most anticipated rematches in the history of Russian MMA.”

M-1 Challenge champion des poids lourds Alexander “Drago” Volkov (25-6-0, M-1: 9-3-0) will make his first title defense against Attila “Pumuklo” Vegh (29-6-2, M-1: 0-0-0) au M-1 Défi 68. A match between Russian middleweight Valery “Le Marteau de Russie” Myasnikov (10-1-1, M-1: 1-1-1) and Spanish veteran Enoc Résout Torres (18-9-0, M-1: 5-6-0) has also been announced for the June 16^e carte.

“Le M-1 Défi 68 event is going to be huge,” Finkelchtein added. “We’re stacking the card with Alexander Volkov vs Attila Vegh fighting in an M-1 Challenge heavyweight title fight. The Grand Prix winner, Shlemenko still gets $50,000. As for Ramazan Etmeev, we will put efforts into arranging his fight with Alexander Shlemenko cet automne, if Shlemenko is still fighting in Russia. Emeev versus Shlemenko will provide the answer to all of the questions MMA fans still arguing about.”

Juin 4 – M-1 Défi 67: Buchinger vs. Idrisov, Baku, Azerbaïdjan