AMC Fight Nights

The company was founded in 2010 by a renowned Russian athlete, businessman and sports ambassador Kamil Gadzhiev together with a multiple time world kickboxing champion Batu Khasikov, a television producer Sangadji Tarbaev, the "SHANDESIGN" studio head Sergei Shanovich and the Goldman Sachs Russia CEO Sergey Arsenyev. At that time the company was called FIGHT NIGHTS and later rebranded as Eurasia Fight Nights (EFN).

Initially, Fight Nights Global (at that time called FIGHT NIGHTS) fights were held in a ring under MMA and K-1 rules. The first event featured Lightweight Grand Prix, which was won by Murad Machaev. In the main event Batu Khasikov knocked out Ricardo Fernandes. Rasul Mirzaev defeated Marat Pekov via judges decision and became the first FIGHT NIGHTS champion in the Featherweight category.

The first truly high-profile event happened in November 2011 in Moscow and featured the famous Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis facing Batu Khasikov. Batu won by TKO in the first round and broke his opponent's jaw. That was widely perceived as a lucky punch and talks about a rematch arose.

In 2012, the company held seven major events with the final one being "FIGHT NIGHTS: Battle of Moscow 9" on December 16. The show featured the debut of the UFC ex-champion Andrei Arlovski. The decorated Belarusian fighter defeated Mike Hayes from the United States via a unanimous decision.

Vitaly Minakov, Fight Nights Global promotion's household name, signed a contract with Bellator MMA in 2012.

In 2013, Vitaly won the Bellator heavyweight Grand Prix tournament and then won the Bellator MMA belt by knocking out Alexander Volkov in the first round. In April 2013, Vitaly became the first FIGHT NIGHTS fighter to make his way to the UFC. The next one was Ali Bagautinov who competed in the Flyweight division and signed a contract with the UFC after a convincing victory over the experienced Japanese mixed martial artist Seiji Ozuka.

In June 2013 the company started using an octagonal cage that is popular in the MMA industry. In November 2013, the company hosted the first event outside of Russia, “FIGHT NIGHTS: Battle on the Nyamiha" at Minsk-Arena, Belarus. The main attraction of the night was the long-awaited home performance by Andrei Arlovski.

Batu Khasikov had his last professional fight in March 2014 at “Fight Nights: Battle Of Moscow 15” where he again fought Mike Zambidis. The fight went all five rounds, Khasikov was the victor. Vladimir Mineev debuted in MMA at “Fight Nights: Battle Of Moscow 17”. The final tournament of 2014 featured Alexander Shlemenko vs. Yasubey Enomoto.

In 2015 the company hosted four major shows (Fight Nights: Battle Of Moscow 19, Fight Nights: Sochi, Fight Nights: Dagestan, Fight Nights: Petersburg) and eighteen selection tournaments “Fight club FIGHT NIGHTS".

Vitaly Minakov used his interim in Bellator MMA to return to the Fight Nights Global promotion. From July 2015 to June 2016 the four-time Sambo world champion fought in 4 matches, winning early victories over Adam Maciejewski (Poland), Geronimo dos Santos (Brazil), Josh Copeland (USA) and Peter Graham (Australia).

In 2016 the company was bought by Summa Group, a conglomerate that invested in port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications, sports, oil and gas that was founded by Dagestani billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov.[2] Kamil Gadzhiev, who is also the Vice-President of Moscow MMA Federation, became the president of the newly established Fight Nights Global. Backed by substantial investments of Summa Group, 2016 was the year of a massive breakthrough for FNG on the Russian market.

Fight Nights Global 50 (June 17, 2016) became a landmark event in the history of the promotion company. The anniversary show in Saint Petersburg featured a truly enchanting fight card, headlined by the legendary Fedor Emelianenko. 4 years after retirement, "The Last Emperor" decided to come back to professional sports in the Fight Nights Global cage versus one of the most uncompromising strikers of the UFC, Fabio Maldonado. The tough match ended with a split decision win for the Russian athlete. The event was broadcast worldwide via UFC Fight Pass.

In 2017 Fight Nights Global determined champions in all eight weight categories among men and inked plenty of international talent to the roster including Rousimar Palhares, Josh Hill, Tyson Nam and the returning Ali Bagautinov to multi-fight contracts.[3]

The company hosted 25 events, discovering new cities and countries, including Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan, Dushanbe in Tajikistan, Omsk, Penza, Tolyatti, Surgut, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Bryansk and Ulan-Ude in Russia.

Fight Night Global president Kamil Gadzhiev announced that the promotion will introduce the Anti-Doping Control System.[4]

Fight Nights Global 68, which took place during the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, showcased Vitaly Minakov vs. Antonio Silva.[5] Later, Novosibirsk hosted Fight Nights Global 69, where Ali Bagautinov defeated Pedro Nobre.[6] In September, the notorious Fight Nights Global 73 took place. It featured the Russian-Brazilian confrontations Shamil Amirov vs. Rousimar Palhares, Kurban Omarov vs. Fabio Maldonado and Akhmed Aliev vs. Diego Brandao in the main event, which ended with a scandal.[7]

Other iconic events of the year were Fight Nights Global 77, where newly-signed Nikita Krylov KO’ed Emanuel Newton[8] and Fight Nights Global 82, where the undefeated heavyweight Vitaly Minakov TKO’ed the top fighter from the USA, Tony Johnson.

In 2018 the company announced more international shows, including events in Brazil, USA and EU.

+120 kg (265 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Vacant	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sergei Pavlovich vacated the title when he signed for UFC.
1	Sergei Pavlovich def. Mikhail Mokhnatkin	FNG 68 Saint Petersburg, Russia	June 2, 2017	1. def. Kirill Sidelnikov at FNG 79 on Nov 19, 2017

93 kg (205 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Armen Petrosyan def. Artur Aliskerov	MMA Festival Rostov-on-Don, Russia	August 28, 2020	1. def. Anatoly Kondratiev at FNG Steel Heart XI on Jan 22, 2021
Nikita Krylov vacated the title when he signed for UFC.
2	Nikita Krylov	FNG 87 Rostov-on-Don, Russia	May 19, 2018
1	Fábio Maldonado def. Kurban Omarov	FNG 73 Kaspiysk, Russia	September 4, 2017

84 kg (185 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Vladimir Mineev def. Dauren Ermekov	FNG / GFC Moscow, Russia	September 9, 2020
Roman Kopylov vacated the title when he signed for UFC.
2	Roman Kopylov	FNG 85 Moscow, Russia	March 30, 2018	1. def. Yasubey Enomoto at FNG 91 on Dec 27, 2018
1	Abusupyan Alikhanov def. Khalid Murtazaliev	FNG 66 Kaspiysk, Russia	May 21, 2017

77 kg (170 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Dmitry Bikrev def. Maxim Butorin	FNG 92 Moscow, Russia	April 6, 2019	1. NC vs. Shamil Amirov at FNG 98 on September 25, 2020
Georgiy Kichigin vacated the title when he signed for ONE.
1	Georgiy Kichigin def. Gadzhimurad Khiramagomedov	FNG 65 Astana, Kazakhstan	May 19, 2017	1. def. Magomed Nurov at FNG 80 on Nov 26, 2017

70 kg (155 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Nariman Abbasov def. Kuat Khamitov	FNG 93 Mytishchi, Russia	April 26, 2019	1. def. Mikhail Gogitidze at FNG 98 on September 25, 2020
Akhmed Aliev vacated the title when he signed for PFL.
2	Akhmed Aliev	FNG 83 Moscow, Russia	February 22, 2018
1	Magomedsaygid Alibekov def. Nariman Abbasov	FNG 56 Vladivostok, Russia	December 9, 2016	1. def. Kuat Khamitov at FNG 63 on April 21, 2017

66 kg (145 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Mukhamed Eminov def. Aleksandr Grozin	Festival Stepping into Immortality Ekaterinburg, Russia	March 1, 2020	1. def. Muratbek Kasymbay at FNG / GFC on Sept 9, 2020 2. def. Akhmed Balkizov at FNG 99 on Dec 25, 2020
Alexander Matmuratov vacated the title when he signed for ACA.
1	Alexander Matmuratov def. Ilya Kurzanov	FNG 62 Moscow, Russia	March 31, 2017	1. def. Evgeniy Ignatiev at FNG 81 on Dec 15, 2017

61 kg (135 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Evgeniy Ignatiev vacated the title when he signed for RCC Boxing Promotions
2	Evgeniy Ignatiev def. Nikita Boltabaev	FNG 94 Moscow, Russia	October 12, 2019
Tomáš Deák vacated the title when he signed for Oktagon MMA.
1	Tomáš Deák def. Nikita Chistyakov	FNG 75 Moscow, Russia	October 6, 2017	1. def. Sharamazan Chupanov at FNG 84 on March 2, 2018

57 kg (125 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Moris Boleyan def. Anatoly Kondratyev	FNG Steel Heart XI Magnitogorsk, Russia	January 22, 2021
Zhalgas Zhumagulov vacated the title when he signed for UFC.
3	Zhalgas Zhumagulov	FNG 88 Astana, Kazakhstan	August 31, 2018	1. def. Ali Bagautinov at FNG 95 on October 19, 2019
2	Tagir Ulanbekov	FNG 76 Moscow, Russia	October 8, 2017
1	Vartan Asatryan def. Zhalgas Zhumagulov	FNG 65 Astana, Kazakhstan	May 19, 2017

61 kg (135 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Vacant	N/A	N/A	N/A
Liana Jojua vacated the title when she signed for UFC.
1	Liana Jojua def. Marina Mokhnatkina	FNG 83 Moscow, Russia	February 22, 2018