Although Jeff Monson wisely avoided his go-to strategy of fucking dudes for free when he met Aleksander “Patient Zero” Emelianenko at M-1 Challenge 35 yesterday, he was able to come away with another one of his signature North-South submission victories. We wouldn’t exactly call the events leading up to said finish pretty — Monson’s wild, looping punches in the early going only looked passable when compared to the half-assed takedown attempts that followed them, but “The Snowman” did manage to sweep Emelianenko once things hit the ground in the first round and controlled the Russian for the rest of the fight thereafter.
In fact, Monson would use the same half guard sweep in the second stanza to eventually secure a takedown again, much to the chagrin of brother Fedor and emperor Vadim, who were watching stoically from ringside. Emelianenko would not be so lucky this round, and after an ankle lock attempt failed, he would succumb to the death traps that are Monson’s armpits at the 3:17 mark.
With the win, Monson improved to 47-13 as a pro and has put together 4 wins and a draw since losing to Fedor almost a year ago to the day. Say what you want about Monson, but inactive is something the dude is not. As for Aleks, it was a tough loss that snapped a four fight win streak, but hey, at least he found an opponent who was actually willing to fight back this time.