M-1 Challenge 53 gets a massive fight in the form of two finishers in Sergei Kharitonov and Damian Grabowski.
Kharitonov vs. Grabowski was confirmed by M-1 matchmaker Stanislava Kharlamov on Tuesday.
Kharitonov (21-5) has been bouncing back and forth between MMA and kickboxing as of late. Since joining the kickboxing promotion Glory, Kharitonov has went 2-2 in the promotion. He lost his debut to now heavyweight champion, Rico Verhoeven. He bounced back with two decision victories over Daniel Sam and Jérôme Le Banner. In his most rrecent kickboxing outing he lost to Anderson Silva in the heavyweight tournament semi-finals at Glory 16. As for MMA, he is 4-1 in his last 5 with that one loss coming from Josh Barnett in 2011. Since that fight he has won three in a row, all finishes and all of which in Russia. He has fought once pet year since his loss to Barnett in ’11, with his most recent win being over Tyler East at Tech-Krep Fight Championship.
Grabowski (19-2) most recently lost his M-1 heavyweight title to Marcin Tybura at M-1 Challenge 50. He was defeated in the first round by a north/south choke submission. Before that he was on a six fight win streak, defeating the likes of Tadas Rimkevicius, Stav Economou, Dave Huckaba and UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez. Grabowski is known primarily for his submission which account for 10 of his 19 wins. His chokes in particular.
This fight will take place on the main portion of the card.
M-1 Challenge 53 is set to take place on November 11 in Beijing, China at The MasterCard Center.
