Filed under: M-1 Global
The final fight card of M-1 Global’s four-event deal with Showtime aired Friday night, and it was typical of what fans have come to expect of M-1 Global on Showtime: Some entertaining scraps with plenty of finishes, but few fighters with any name value for American MMA fans.
Unfortunately, the card also featured an ugly knockout loss for Jose Figueroa — the second knockout loss for Figueroa in less than three weeks.
That knockout came in the co-main event, when Artiom Damkovsky hit Figueroa with a right hand that planted him flat on his back on the canvas. Damkovsky landed one more punch on the ground before the referee could jump in to stop the fight, and by that point Figueroa was out cold.
At a time when sports organizations across the country are becoming more sensitive to the dangers of concussions, it’s surprising that M-1 Global and the California State Athletic Commission allowed Figueroa in the ring, considering that he lost by first-round knockout on another M-1 Global card in Moscow on November 20. Fighters who are knocked out are usually told to avoid contact for at least 30 days. It’s worrisome that Figueroa has now been knocked out twice in less than three weeks. The California State Athletic Commission did not immediately respond to a message from MMAFighting.com about why Figueroa was licensed for the fight.
The main event of the M-1 Global event went into the final minute of the fifth round before Yasubey Enomoto forced Shamil Zavurov to tap out to a guillotine choke. The fight was close and even for 24 minutes and appeared to be headed toward a decision until Enomoto (who was avenging a loss to Zavurov earlier this year) sunk in a guillotine in the closing minute. Enomoto becomes the new M-1 Global welterweight champion.
In other M-1 Global action:
— Alexander Sarnavskiy had an easy time with Sergio Cortez, taking him down and putting on a grappling clinic before sinking in a rear-naked choke to force him to tap after just 1 minute, 46 seconds in the first round. Sarnavsky improved his record to 17-0, and the 7-7 Cortez didn’t belong in the same ring with him.
— Tyson Jeffries broke a two-fight losing streak by submitting Eddie Arizmendi with a D’Arce choke in the second round.
— Bao Quach beat Alvin Cacdac by first-round submission with a triangle-arm bar to end a very entertaining opening fight.