In a stunning upset, Team South Korea defeated the defending 2008 M-1 Challenge Champions Russia Imperial Team (formerly Russia Red Devil) by a score of 3-2 during the 2009 "M-1 Challenge Presented by Affliction" season opener on Saturday night at the Emerald Queen Casino near Tacoma, Washington.
A capacity crowd witnessed an outstanding show featuring 30 fighters from six teams in three head-to-head matchups for a total of 15 fights.
In addition to Russia Imperial Team's upset, the debuting USA Team West gave the partial crowd in attendance a major upset victory by defeating the debut Brazil Naja team by a score of 3-2.
Finland also asserted itself as a legitimate contender for the 2009 championship with a dominant 4-1 victory over 2008 second-place finishers Team Benelux (formerly Team Holland).
South Korea's Kim Do Hyung sent a message to the Imperial Team's Mikhail Malutin that his decision to move from welterweight to lightweight was made with the intention of displacing Malyutin as the M-1 Challenge's top fighter at 155 pounds. After a spirited two rounds, the judges awarded Kim a unanimous decision victory.
Following Kim's win, welterweight Myeong Ho Bae took the stage and earned his second career victory over a disappointed Erik Oganov. Oganov, a former BodogFIGHT veteran, fell to 0-2 in head-to-head matchups with Bae when he was forced to tap to a rear naked choke at 2:12 of round 2.
Up 2-0, South Korea looked to pull off the sweep as Hyun Guy Lim went toe-to-toe with the Imperial Team's Dmitry Samoilov. Samoylov cut South Korea's lead in half following a unanimous decision victory over Lim.
Now only down 2-1, the Imperial Team appeared a lock to even the score as its light heavyweight ace Mikhail Zayats headed out to take on Jae Young Kim. Zayats entered the fight with an impressive overall record and a perfect record during M-1 Challenge team play. A World Combat Sambo Champion in 2008, Zayats dominated the shorter Kim in the first round and appeared to be well on his way to his ninth career victory. However, the resilient Kim refused to quit and continued to move forward despite absorbing a great deal of strikes from Zayats. The Kyoshin Karate expert's hard work eventually paid off after he rocked the reigning World Sambo Champion with a three-punch combo.
Showing a tremendous amount of resiliency of his own, a dazed Zayats continued to engage with Kim as he attempted to re-establish himself in the fight. However, before he could recover, Zayats was knocked out with a high kick by Kim at 4:02 of round 2.
Kim's win clinched South Korea's 3-2 upset over the Imperial Team and gave the audience watching the event live in South Korea reason to celebrate.
Looking to make a statement by winning with a score of 4-1, South Korean heavyweight Sang Su Lee was poised to exact a measure of revenge against Imperial's Alexey Oleinink. The Moscow native won his ninth consecutive fight when he tapped Lee with another Ezekiel choke at 4:27 of round 2.
Team USA West showed the world it's here to contend for a title in 2009 following its 3-2 upset over Brazil Naja. A new star was born in Team Quest's Dave Jansen, who improved by recording an impressive unanimous decision over former Rio Heroes star and cult Vale Tudo legend Flavio Alvaro. Using a strong mix of combination striking and takedowns, Jansen left little doubt in the minds of the supportive audience after the fight went to the judges' scorecards. Despite suffering three facial lacerations during the fight and in spite of accepting the bout on just eight days notice, Jansen recorded a decisive unanimous decision with his breakthrough effort that made him the talk of press row.
Brazil Naja evened the score to 1-1 following Eduardo Pamplona's unanimous decision victory over Maui's Dylan Clay. Clay, a professional grappler who also holds a 2-0 record in pro Muay Thai, more than held his own with the vastly more experienced Pamplona.
In a back and forth battle, Clay forced the bout to go to overtime in the third round. Unfortunately, the aggressive Clay ran out of steam and was TKO'd at 2:48 of round three after finding his arms trapped underneath Pamplona and being physically unable to defend himself from strikes.
A veteran from the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, Reggie Orr let everyone know that he intends to be one of the premier middleweights in the M-1 Challenge following his split decision victory over Juliano Belgine. With Team USA up 2-1, the pressure was on Raphael Davis to clinch the win for Team USA against Jair Goncalves.
Davis, an IFL veteran and one of the world's top rated submission grapplers, displayed improved standup skills by recording a first round TKO just four minutes and five seconds into the fight. With Davis' win, Team USA managed to secure a victory on its home turf during its inaugural performance. Brazil Naja saved some face by cutting the win to a 3-2 margin following Jose Edson Franca's split decision victory over former EliteXC heavyweight veteran Carl Saumauntafa.
