Amsterdam, Holland — While the name of the team may have changed from Russia Red Devil to Russia Imperial Team, the roster from the defending 2008 M-1 Challenge World Champions remain the same.
All five members of last year’s five-man championship squad are scheduled for action this Saturday at the Emerald Queen Casino (tickets currently available at Ticketmaster.com) near Tacoma, Washington during the “M-1 Challenge Presented by Affliction” (www.M1Mixfight.com) 2009 regular season opener.
The M-1 Challenge is an international team competition that bills itself as the “World Cup of Mixed Martial Arts” with 16 teams scheduled to compete in 2009. The expansion from 10 teams in 2008 to 16 in ’09 places an added importance on the regular season. One loss and the Russians will find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to making the post-season and defending its world title.
The first obstacle in their quest to win back-to-back championships happens to be one of the most competitive teams from last season, Team South Korea. While South Korea did not qualify for the ’08 post-season, M-1 Challenge officials selected four of its team members when scheduling superfights that were featured on the undercard of last month’s 2008 Championship Finals in Amsterdam.
Needless to say, the Imperial’s “Fab Five” of lightweight Mikhail Malyutin, welterweight Erik Oganov, middleweight Dmirty Somoylov, light heavyweight Mikhail Zayats, and heavyweight Alexey Oleinik will have their work cut out for themselves on Saturday.
Malyutin (9-6), one of the most improved fighters involved with the M-1 Challenge in 2008, is fresh off his 2008 Championship Finals victory over Team Holland’s Bogan Christea. After going 5-1 in M-1 last year, Malyutin will look to improve his win streak to six against South Korea’s Do Hyung Kim but knows it won’t be easy.
“Koreans always went against Red Devil as if it was their last fight,” said Malyutin. “This is going to be our third encounter in the context of M-1 Challenge and M-1: Russia vs. Korea. Both times we were victorious so of course they are dying to get revenge which implies a hard night ahead.”
Against Kim, there will also be much more at stake than just winning.
“I personally want to punish Kim because of his insulting behavior after his bout against my teammate Erik Oganov this past fall at the St. Petersburg show,” he said.
Malyutin also concedes that defending the titles won’t be easy but is confident that the Imperial Team will repeat.
“As far as the 2009 M-1 Challenge season goes, I believe we’ll have hard time; every single team is eager to beat the champion,” said Malyutin. “They are going to fail since our team is very strong and all of Russia is behind us.”
While some Imperial fighters will be fighting on U.S. soil for the first time, Oganov is no stranger to competing in North America having gone 2-0 for the BodogFIGHT promotion with wins over Derrick Noble and former UFC veteran Keith Wisniewski.
Oganov was 3-1 last year in team competition with his lone loss coming to Kim. It’s a loss that he has had trouble letting go of.
“The last time I lost to a Korean fighter so I hope to set this straight this time,” he said.
While Oganov won’t have an opportunity for direct revenge against Kim, the welterweight will instead be able to take out his frustrations on Myungho Bae.
Like most of the other Imperial Team members, Somoylov (6-3-1) comes from an outstanding Sambo background. He recorded a second round TKO against Min Suk Heo when Russia fought South Korea last year and felt they put up a strong fight. He expects them to come back stronger this year as they seek to avenge last year’s loss.
“Last year it was clear they needed to get stronger in order to beat us and that ensures that we’re going to be facing an even tougher South Korean team this time,” Somolyov began. “They put a lot of effort into winning but our team was stronger that night. They didn’t win last year and they won’t be victorious against Imperial Team this year. We intend to win the second M-1 Challenge Championship in a row.”
Somolyov is expecting a successful ’09 debut on Saturday and isn’t waiting until after the fight vs. Heo is over before calling out a new opponent.
“I’d like to wish Team France good luck this year,” he said. “Our team is eager to get a rematch and I personally want a rematch against Karl Amoussou. Amoussou, I’m waiting for you!”
Somolyov is referring to last March’s head-to-head matchup against France, in which he lost to Amoussou just 18 seconds into round 1 following a devastating head kick. Somolyov went on to win his next three fights after the loss.
At light heavyweight, Mikhail Zayats is set to square off against Jae Young Kim. Zayats’ bout comes at time in which M-1 alums Gegard Mousasi (DREAM), Kirill Sidelnikov (Affliction), Daisuke Nakamura (DREAM), Stefan Struve (UFC) and Brian Cobb (UFC) have all received contracts from major promotions.
Some pundits are wondering if Zayats is the next to follow in their footsteps. At 8-1 with four consecutive victories over the likes of Lucio Linhares, John Cornett, Seung Bae Whi, and David Haagsma to his credit, Zayats’ resume says he’s ready. However, Zayats is focused on one thing: successfully defending the 2008 crown.
“I am very proud of our win last year in the M-1 challenge and we all have more experience now,” he said. “I think we will need it because the competition is much strionger than last year.”
And returning at heavyweight is Alexey Oleinik, who proved himself to his teammates after being tapped for the ’08 finals as a last-minute replacement while Sidelnikov prepared for his Affliction debut against Paul Buentello.
Oleinik made a name for himself having fought in the U.S. last April during YAMMA’s heavyweight tournament in Atlantic City. Facing UFC veteran Sherman Pendergarst during the tournament’s first round, Oleinik submitted the Miletich Fighting Systems veteran with an Ezekiel choke.
He used the same exact choke to upset one of M-1’s elite heavyweights, Jessie Gibbs, en route to Imperial’s 4-1 win over Team Holland at the ’08 Championship Finals. On Saturday, Oleinik finds himself once again matched up with one of M-1’s top heavyweights, Sang Soo Lee (11-5), who made headlines last year following his upset victory over Roman Zentsov.
In addition to Russia Team Imperial vs. Team South Korea, the ‘09 season opener will feature a total of three head-to-head matchups with 15 fights. The debuting Team USA West will be taking on Team Brazil Naja and the returning Team Finland will also be squaring off with the debuting Team Benelux. Tickets are currently available at Ticketmaster.com (search keyword: M-1 Challenge).
Complete lineups for Saturday’s opener are as follows:
Finland vs. Benelux (best of five) –
- Lightweight (154 lbs./-70 kg): Juha-Pekka Vainikainen (Finland) vs. Danny van Bergen (Benelux)
- Welterweight (167.2 lbs./-76 kg): Janne Tulrinta (Finland) vs. Tommy Depret (Benelux)
- Middleweight (184.8 lbs./-84 kg): Lucio Linhares (Finland) vs. Kamil Uygun (Benelux)
- Light Heavyweight (204.6 lbs./-93 kg): Marcus Vanttinen (Finland) vs. Jason Jones (Benelux)
- Heavyweight (204.7 lbs.-plus/+93 kg): Toni Valtonen (Finland) vs. Sander Duyvis (Benelux)
South Korea vs. The Imperial Team (best of five) –
- Lightweight (154 lbs./-70 kg): Do Hyung Kim (South Korea) vs. Mikhail Malyutin (Imperial)
- Welterweight (167.2 lbs./-76 kg): Myungho Bae (South Korea) vs. Erik Oganov (Imperial)
- Middleweight (184.8 lbs./-84 kg): Hyungyu Lim (South Korea) vs. Dmirty Somoylov (Imperial)
- Light Heavyweight (204.6 lbs./-93 kg): Jae Young Kim (South Korea) vs. Mikhail Zayats (Imperial)
- Heavyweight (204.7 lbs.-plus/+93 kg): Sang Soo Lee (South Korea) vs. Alexey Oleinik (Imperial)
Team USA West vs. Team Brazil Naja (best of five) –
- Lightweight (154 lbs./-70 kg): Dave Jansen (USA West) vs. Flavio Roberto Alvaro (Brazil)
- Welterweight (167.2 lbs./-76 kg): Dylan Clay (USA West) vs. Eduardo Pamplona (Brazil)
- Middleweight (184.8 lbs./-84 kg): Reggie Orr (USA West) vs. Juliano Cioffi Belgine (Brazil)
- Light Heavyweight (204.6 lbs./-93 kg): Raphael Davis (USA West) vs. Jair Goncalves Junior (Brazil)
- Heavyweight (204.7 lbs.-plus/+93 kg): Carl Seumanutafa (USA West) vs. Jose Edson dos Santos Franca (Brazil)