Sergei Kharitonov will face Satoshi Ishii on Nov. 11. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Strikeforce and Pride Fighting Championships veteran Sergei Kharitonov will square off with 2008 Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii in a heavyweight bout at M-1 Challenge 53.
The card will also feature a heavyweight title clash pitting reigning champion Marcin Tybura against Denis Smoldarev. Both the preliminary and main card of M-1 Challenge 53 will stream live on www.M1Global.TV.
The 33-year-old Kharitonov last competed in the MMA realm in March, when he scored a second-round TKO against Tyler East at a Tech-Krep Fighting Championship event in Russia. More recently, Kharitonov fought at Glory 16 in May, losing a decision to Anderson “Braddock” Silva in the semifinals of the promotion’s one-night, heavyweight tournament.
The heavy-handed Russian owns notable triumphs over Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Pedro Rizzo during his MMA career.
Ishii, meanwhile, had an eight-fight winning streak stopped by Mirko Filipovic at Inoki Genome Fight 2 on Aug. 23. The bout was halted 2:37 into round two due to a cut on Ishii’s head. The KSW-trained heavyweight owns victories over the likes of Tim Sylvia, Pedro Rizzo, Jeff Monson and Philip De Fries, to name a few.