The 2010 M-1 Challenge season was the third season of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting presented by the M-1 Global promotion. The season started on February 5 and will conclude with the M-1 Challenge XXII event on December 10. Unlike in previous years where competition was arranged entirely around country-based teams, the 2010 competition had a greater focus on individual achievement. Rather than the sixteen "country" teams of the 2009 competition, the 2010 M-1 Challenge featured eight teams representing four "continents" – Europe, Russia, Americas and Asia – with each continent having two teams. Four of the teams are drawn from the M-1 Selection events whilst the other four are selected from, and featured, veteran MMA fighters. Events held near the end of the year featured bouts to crown inaugural M-1 Global Champions in each of the five weight divisions.
Background
M-1 Challenge is a team-based competition organized with a series of events held around the world wherever MMA clubs compete. Each team consist of five fighters, one from each of the five major MMA weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. The inaugural Challenge (the 2008 Season) was won by the Russian team from the Red Devil Sport Club, who defeated the team from the Netherlands. The 2009 M-1 Challenge Season was also won by a Russian team, this time with a 5–0 defeat of the USA East team.
M-1 Challenge XXI: Guram vs. Garner
The first M-1 Challenge event took place on October 28, 2010, at the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The event featured two title bouts that paired M-1 Global's 2010 "Selection" regional champions, who topped a worldwide tournament that began in January.
Championship bouts
Belarusian Artiom Damkovsky and his Russian opponent Mairbek Taisumov fought to determine the Championship in the lightweight division. Damkovsky came into the bout as the M-1 Eastern European Lightweight Champion, having twice defeated Arsen Ubaidulaev and with an overall 7–4 win–loss record. Taisumov became the M-1 Western European Lightweight Champion when he defeated Serhiy Adamchuk and entered the championship bout with a 12–2 record. Both Damkovsky and Taisumov were undefeated in the 2010 Season prior to their fight. In the first two rounds, the two men were relatively evenly matched: Damkovsky was the more powerful striker, landing telling blows with low and mid-kicks. Taisumov, however, executed a successful takedown in the second round and followed it up with a crushing ground-and-pound. In the third round, both men remained on their feet until the bout was stopped when Damkovsky poked Taisumov in the eye. Though medically cleared to continue, Taisumov declined to continue and Damkovsky was declared the winner with a TKO by retirement.
The two fighters meeting in the heavyweight championship bout were Ukrainian Guram Gugenishvili and American Kenny Garner. Gugenishvili became the M-1 Western European Heavyweight champion when he defeated fellow-Ukrainian Alexander Romaschenko in a bout held at the M-1 Selection Eastern European finals Gugenishvili's victory by rear naked choke submission took his win–loss record to 9–0, and eight of those victories were by submission. It was announced that Gugenishvili would face M-1 Eastern European Heavyweight Champion Maxim Grishin. However, Grishin was forced to withdraw from the bout with a knee injury that occurred during a national hand-to-hand combat fighting championship in Ufa, providing M-1 Global Americas Champion Kenny Garner the opportunity to fight Gugenishvili. Garner came into the championship bout with a 5–2 record, though he was undefeated in the preliminary rounds of the M-1 Challenge Season. The first round of the bout was evenly matched, with both Garner and Gugenishvili scrambling out from each other multiple times. Gugenishvili took control in the second round, however, when he took advantage of a clinch to put Garner into a guillotine choke hold. Gugenishvili achieved a technical submission victory as Garner lost consciousness, extending his undefeated run and making him the M-1 Global Heavyweight Champion.
Non-championship bouts
In addition to the title bouts, there were undercard bouts in all five weight divisions. Alexander Sarnavskiy, a previous M-1 Selection tournament participant, faced off against Victor Kuku, who was undefeated in M-1 competition. Sarnavskiy was previously scheduled to compete in the M-1 Eastern Europe final, but was forced to withdraw through illness. The fight did not last long as Sarnavskiy charged at Kuku, hitting him with a spinning back fist, before hitting him with a barrage of punches to force the stoppage at just 14 seconds.