Clarksville locals fared well overseas in M-1, just days after the company announced a partnership with the UFC.
Clarksville, Tennessee has produced many talented professional athletes in its history and this past weekend two Clarksville natives put on stunning performances and garnered international attention. Edward “The Ninja Massey and Nate “The Train” Landwehr are two world class professional mixed martial artists who fight out of the city’s top gym and fight team -- the world famous SSF Submission Academy/ Wildside.
On July 21st, the pair traveled far from home to the city of Ingushetia, Russia to do battle for M-1 Global, against two hometown opponents. In his first appearance in Russia, Edward Massey started the night off for SSF in quick and devastating fashion in the form of a head kick to his opponent Mate Sanikidze. Nicknamed “The Ninja,” Massey walked away victorious in only 15 seconds. A young athlete with a bright future, Massey made an emphatic statement to the Russian fans, and he now plans to draw his roadmap to the M-1 bantamweight championship.
The main event of the evening saw SSF‘s Nate “The Train” Landwehr challenge for the M-1 Global Featherweight world championship against Khamzat Dalgiev. The build up to this fight was filled with controversy, with the champion Dalgiev missing weight by over 7 pounds. This led to a pre-fight scuffle between the two camps. Landwehr also chose to walk out of the press conference ahead of the event and no show the ceremonial weigh-ins in protest. When the fight began, the controversy continued with Dalgiev being admonished repeatedly for using illegal tactics such as head butts and eye-gouging. However, none of these efforts were able to stop “The Train” who charged forward, repeatedly got back to his feet after being taken down, and eventually took Dalgiev’s back and punished him with relentless strikes until the referee was forced to step in. Landwehr’s win marks a historic moment for Clarksville, making him the city's first ever world champion in combat sports.
M-1 Global made even more news this week, when the promotion announced that it would partner up with longtime rival company UFC to form UFC Russia to further cultivate talent in the area
