By FCF Staff
Only weeks removed from Rafal Moks' 17 second submission victory over Magomed Sultanakhmedov, which handed the Polish fighter the M-1 Global middleweight belt, the promotion has announced that he is relinquishing the title to compete at 170lbs. Moks will begin his 2011 campaign against welterweight Rashid Magomedov, at the upcoming, March 5th, M-1 Challenge XXIII card in Moscow, Russia.
“With the success that Moks had in the face of much larger opponents, making the decision to return to his natural weight class had to be extremely tough,” Evgeni Kogan, Director of Operations for M-1 Global was quoted saying in the announcement. “Moks has volunteered to vacate the middleweight title which will be fought for later this year. This was a decision that Moks and his camp believe directs his career down the proper path. M-1 supports it and we wish him continued success.”
Moks went undefeated in 2010 by winning four straight bouts, three of which came via first round submission. The former champion hasn’t lost since November, 2008, when he was stopped by Ismail Cetinkaya while competing for Fight Club Berlin.
M-1 Challenge XXIII will be broadcast live on the official M-1 Global site and will be hosted by Moscow’s Crocus City Arena.
Here is the line-up to date:
Under Card Bouts:
Rashid Magomedov (7-1) vs. Rafal Moks (6-2) Welterweight
Magomed Sultanakhmedov (28-5) vs. Plinio Cruz (5-3) Middleweight
Daniel Weichel (25-7) vs. Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (16-4) Lightweight
Kenny ‘Deuce’ Garner (5-3) vs. Alexander Volkov (9-2-1) Heavyweight
Championship Bout
Heavyweight Division:
Guram Gugenishvili, M-1 Challenge Champion (10-0) vs.
Maxim Grishin, M-1 Selection Eastern Europe 2010 champion (7-4)·
Additional bouts to be announced shortly
