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. ...

Fighters.com's ninth-ranked heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) is scheduled to fight Sang Soo Lee (9-4) in St. Petersburg 21 November, M-1 announced Sunday. The match-up is Emelianenko's first since being denied a license to fight "Headhunter" Paul Buentello (26-10) by the California State Athletic Commission in July. Emelianenko publicly denied rumors that he was denied a license because of a positive test for Hepatitis. Emelianenko rolled through Silvao Santos (1-1) in St. Petersburg 3 April. Lee tapped Emelianenko's Red Devil teammate Roman Zentsov (17-3) in a triangle choke in Seoul 29 August. The fight will feature as one of two Super Fights at M-1 Challenge 9. ...

Bulgarian wrestler Jordan Radev (13-3), whose UFC career consisted of getting knocked out in 33 seconds by "Massacre" Andrew McFedries (7-3) and losing a UD to "Boogieman" Dean Lister (11-5), will fight Japanese middleweight Yuya Shirai (12-6) as a member of Team World at M-1 Challenge in Korea 29 August. Welterweight Jake Ellenberger (18-4) will return after a successful Team USA debut in July to face Korean Doo Won Seo (1-2) on the card. Lightweight Daisuke Nakamura (16-9) returns to Team Japan versus Berlgian "Moreno" Wim Deputter (18-2) while welterweight Hidehiko Hasegawa (13-10-6) debuts versus American Top Team's Norman Paraisy (4-0). Russian Roman Zentsov (17-12) will headline the event in a rematch versus Korean Sang Soo Lee (8-4). ...