Heavyweight "Hurricaine" Gilbert Yvel (30-12-1) will fight in the co-main event at M-1 Challenge 9 in St. Petersburg 21 November versus an opponent to be named soon, Fighters.com learned from M-1's Russian division today. M-1 told Fighters.com that Yvel will not rematch Red Devil heavyweight Roman Zentsov (17-12), who knocked Yvel out in a 2006 PRIDE fight. The event will be lead by the return of Fighters.com's tenth-ranked heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (12-3) after the commission debacle before Affliction's debut in Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, 19 July.  Emelianenko will fight Korean Sang Soo Lee (9-4). The event will also feature a team format with bouts between Russia's Red Devil team versus Korea and Russia's Legion team versus Holland. ...

Most noted for renting his cranium as a target to a comeback-bound "Cro Cop" Mirko Filipovic (23-6-2) at DREAM.1 last March, Japanese any weight Tatsuya Mizuno (4-3) tasted the the sweet side of a knockout Thursday night in Tokyo at M-1 Challenge 5. Mizuno dispatched Yoshiyuki Nakanishi (3-1) at 4:13 of round one in the main event. American Jake Ellenberger (18-4) bounced back from a UD loss in Portland 20 June to win a UD over Frenchman "Paco" Farouk Lakebir (2-1) in Ellenberger's Japan debut. Countryman and former TUF contestant Mike Dolce (3-5) was TKO'd at 41 seconds of round two by middleweight "Psycho" Karl Amoussou (7-1-1) of France. It was Dolce's first action since season seven of TUF. ...