The two fighters meeting in the heavyweight championship bout were Ukrainian Guram Gugenishvili and American Kenny Garner. Gugenishvili became the M-1 Western European Heavyweight champion when he defeated fellow-Ukrainian Alexander Romaschenko in a bout held at the M-1 Selection Eastern European finals Gugenishvili's victory by rear naked choke submission took his win–loss record to 9–0, and eight of those victories were by submission. It was announced that Gugenishvili would face M-1 Eastern European Heavyweight Champion Maxim Grishin. However, Grishin was forced to withdraw from the bout with a knee injury that occurred during a national hand-to-hand combat fighting championship in Ufa, providing M-1 Global Americas Champion Kenny Garner the opportunity to fight Gugenishvili. Garner came into the championship bout with a 5–2 record, though he was undefeated in the preliminary rounds of the M-1 Challenge Season. The first round of the bout was evenly matched, with both Garner and Gugenishvili scrambling out from each other multiple times. Gugenishvili took control in the second round, however, when he took advantage of a clinch to put Garner into a guillotine choke hold. Gugenishvili achieved a technical submission victory as Garner lost consciousness, extending his undefeated run and making him the M-1 Global Heavyweight Champion.
