On March 16, 2012 in St. Petersburg at the Ice Sports Palace, as part of the M-1 Challenge 31 Oleinik vs Monson tournament, the semi-final fight of the M-1 Selection heavyweight grand prix took place between Denis Smoldarev (Alexander Nevsky) 3-0 and Denis Komkin (Versus ) 13-7.
Denis Smoldarev was still very young then and relatively new to mixed martial arts. His huge dimensions, the title of vice-champion in combat sambo and his crushing striking technique made an impression and a great future was predicted for this fighter. In the quarterfinal battle, he did not easily, but still broke the resistance of Niyaz Safarov from the Highlander club.
Denis Komkin already had enormous combat experience and a cannon strike from his right hand. His career began back in 2003 as a middleweight. On his way, he fought against such opponents as Ansar Chalangov, Stefan Struve, Moise Rimbon and Tadas Rimkevicius. On November 19, 2011, Denis returned to the ring after a year-long break and knocked out Ruslan Stepanyan in a furious one and a half minute quarterfinal fight.
Two big athletes with knockout punches entered the ring to determine the winner, who would advance to the M-1 Selection Grand Prix Final.
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