Romanov vs. Pereira Added to M-1 Challenge 71 Card

M-1 Global announced Wednesday that Russian welterweight Sergey Romanov will take on Carlos Alexandre Pereira at M-1 Challenge 71 later this month.

M-1 also revealed that former light heavyweight champ Stephan Puetz will also oppose Marcus Vinicius Lopes Lopes while current M-1 welterweight titlist Alexander Butenko will lock horns with Rubenilton Pereira in a non-title affair.

Romanov has been impressive thus far in his still-blossoming MMA career, having won his last seven bouts including two wins inside the M-1 Challenge cage. Five of those seven wins have come via knockout. Pereira, meanwhile, is coming off a loss to Alexey Kunchenko last November. A veteran of Shooto Brazil and Bellator MMA, the Brazilian will be by far the most experienced opponent Romanov will have faced.

M-1 Challenge 71, which is slated for Oct. 21 in St. Petersburg, Russia, will be headlined by a light heavyweight encounter between Viktor Nemkov and Attila Vegh. Pavel Vitruk will take on Vitali Branchuk for the promotion’s inaugural bantamweight title in the co-feature.

M-1 Challenge 71 will stream live on M1Global.tv. Additional bouts for the event will be announced in the coming weeks.