Aleksander Emelianenko fought Jeff Monson in St. Petersburg, Russia last night for the headline bout of M-1 Challenge 35.

The fight was quite even throughout, with Emelianenko controlling the stand-up phases as expected but Monson giving his usual heavy top control when he got the fight to the floor.  In the second round he managed to take top position before grinding his way round to North-South position and locking in his signature hold, the Monson Choke, which actually doubles as a neck-crank and blood-choke when done properly. With a ridiculous amount of pressure on his neck, Emelianenko tapped at 3:17 of round two, snapping a four-fight winning streak.  On November 20 last year, Monson fought Aleks’ brother Fedor in the same venue and lost a one-sided decision. Not only that, he got a broken leg in the process. Fedor put so many leg kicks onto him that he broke Monson’s left-leg thigh-bone. The American heavyweight was in agony for the latter half of the bout but showed superb heart in making it to the end.