Suwon, South Korea will be the backdrop for M-1 Challenge 106 on February 1st. Promoted as ‘South Korea vs The World’ every matchup will feature a local talent against a foreign opponent
The main event will feature a heavyweight clash between Zaur Gadzhibabayev and Jun Soo Lim.
Azerbaijan’s Gadzhibabayev (7-3-1) comes off an unfortunate campaign in 2019 with the organization. The 30-year-old fought to a draw with current UFC heavyweight Tanner Boser last March and then lost to Roggers Souza via split decision over the summer.
Against his South Korean foe, the Baku Fighters representative will look to pick up his first win since July of 2018 when he defeated Yuriy Protzenko at M-1 Challenge 95.
Lim (12-12) also enters the new year on a low note. The 37 year old former AFC heavyweight champion has failed in his attempt to recapture the title three times over the last two years.
His last appearance in the cage was versus kickboxing legend Jerome Le Banner at Heat 45, where he was completely outclassed and knocked out in the second round.
While Lim will be making his promotional debut, this will be the tenth appearance in the M-1 Challenge ring for Gadzhibabayev.
The most interesting aspect of this lineup is the return of Bang Tae Hyun (18-10). The former UFC lightweight was involved in a fight fixing scheme back in 2015 at UFC Fight Night 79 in Seoul.
At the time of the event, suspicion was all erased since he obtained a decision victory over Leo Kuntz. He even took a fight against Nick Hein in Germany the following year.
However, Bang eventually turned himself in to authorities and confessed to wrongdoing after receiving threats from the figures involved. He will be stepping into MMA competition for the first time in three and a half years to take on Spencer Jebb (13-7) of Canada.
Jebb, the KOTC and WSOF veteran, has competed exclusively for M-1 the past few years with mixed results. In his last fight, he dropped a split decision to Isatay Temirov in Kazakhstan almost seven months ago.
M-1 Challenge 106, Suwon, February 1st
Zaur Gadzhibabayev vs Jun Soo Lim
Tahir Abdullaev vs Yeo Je Woo
Spencer Jebb vs Tae Hyun Bang
Vladimir Vasiliev vs Cha In Ho
Laerte Picherri vs Seung Min Shin
Aslan Gorgishvili vs Han Dong Ho
Christian Corujo vs Kim Jung Hee
Nikita Barkhatov vs Park Hyun Sung
Kim So Jung vs Dariya Zheleznyakova
