(PRESS RELEASE) -- ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - An injury has forced 2008 Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii (12-3-1, 1 KO/TKO, 4 SUB) to withdraw from his much anticipated showdown next month with Russian heavyweight Sergei Kharitonov (21-5-0, 11 KO/TKO, 9 SUB) in M-1 Challenge 53: Battle in the Celestial Empire, airing on www.M1Global.TV, live from Wukesong Arena in Beijing, China.
The inaugural International Investment forum, "Karat-Global," was initially scheduled to be held Nov. 10-12, in conjunction with "M-1 Challenge 53," which was originally scheduled for Nov. 11.
M-1 Global president Vadim Finkelchtein announced that Ishii was injured and unable to fight Kharitonov next month. "We are honored to promote this level of high competition in China," he said. "Many thanks to the company, 'Karat', which got permission for the M-1 Global event from the Chinese government. China is a fairly closed country and without the agreement of the party we simply would not have been able to promote this event. We set our sights on a big arena and rented a large Olympic Stadium. We have tried to put together the best collection of M-1 fighters. Unfortunately, the planned fight between Satoshi Ishii and Sergei Kharitonov is off. Ishii sent us medical confirmation of his injury. We are looking for a worthy replacement to fight Sergei.
"We will have a title fight between M-1 Challenge heavyweight champion Marcin Tybura (11-0-0, 4 KO/TKO, 5 SUB) and Denis Smoldarev (8-0-0, 3 KO/TKO, 3 SUB), top heavyweights Konstantin Gluhov (28-14-0, 21 KO/TKO, 4 SUB) and Damian "Polish Pitbull" Grabowski (19-2-0, 6 KO/TKO, 6 SUB will be fighting each other, and (featherweight) Pavel Vitruk (11-0-0. 2 KO/TKO, 2 SUB) is also fighting on 'M-1 Challenge: 52' against Jungle Fight champion Rafael Miranda (9-4-0, 2 KO/TKO, 5 SUB). The favorite fighter for Chinese fans will be triple Wushu Sanda champion Muslim Salikhov (3-1-0, 1 KO/TKO, 0 SUB)), who is called 'King of Wushu Sanda.' Salikhov is a promising fighter for China, where he already enjoys great popularity, and M-1 Global. His opponent will soon be selected.
"MMA in China is beginning to develop but it already has a strong fan-base. We're putting together good fights for them to watch. I believe this event will be a major success. We signed a contract to promote M-1 Challenge events on an annual basis in China. Right now, we're concentrating on one event each year. Russian TV channel, Russia 2, will broadcast live."
All fights and fighters are subject to change.
Konstantine Bunin, President of the international consulting company, "Karat-Beijing," spoke about the goals and objectives of the aforementioned forum, as well as its postponement and the M-1 Challenge 53 event because of the prohibition of mass events in Beijing during the APEC summit to be held Nov. 5-11 in Beijing.
"Last year," Bunin explained, "Karat participated in an international jewelry exhibition. We got the idea for an international economic forum in Beijing. The Communist Party invited us to organize this event. This idea has caused a great resonance among Chinese because many want to reenter the Russian market.
"On the basis of the forum, we decided to hold a mixed martial arts event. Due to the APEC summit, which will take place Nov. 5 to 11, anti-terror actions will be taken during those five days that have been declared holidays. We were hoping to still be allowed to hold a forum and fights, but today it was announced that it has been postponed until Nov. 24-26 with the fights on Nov. 25."
M-1 Challenge 53 will be streamed in high definition on www.M1Global.TV, live from China. Viewers will be able to watch the preliminary fights and main card by logging on to register at www.M1Global.TV. Fans may watch all of the action on their computers, as well as on Andriod and Apple smart phones and tablets.
ABOUT M-1 GLOBAL: Founded in 1997, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world's next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St Petersburg, Amsterdam and Los Angeles and affiliates in Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand has staged more than 150 events worldwide, including the M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge and M-1 Global and M-1 Global HWGP events, in addition to co-promoting Strikeforce events and M-1 Global on the Showtime network in the United States. Captivating live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and matchups, M-1 Global events have featured some of the sport's top names, including Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Aleksander Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem, Keith Jardine, Ben Rothwell, Melvin Manhoef, Roman Zentsov, Yushin Okami, Mike Pyle, Denis Kang, Martin Kampmann, Amar Suloev, Chalid Arrab and Stephan Struve. 2014 promises to be another sensational year of world-class competition with a full calendar of Challenge events fueled by a talent-rich contention system ranking M-1 Global's Champions amongst the greatest in the sport. M-1 Global's greatest asset is renowned heavyweight fighter, Fedor Emelianenko.
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