On July 21, 2007, the first mixed martial arts tournament in the world history took place, which was not on solid ground. This was the very first Battle on the Neva organized by the M-1 companies. The ring and spectator seats were installed on a huge pontoon near one of the most picturesque embankments in the center of St. Petersburg.
In the main battle of the evening, Alexander Emelianenko was supposed to fight with seasoned Gilbert Ivel, but he refused to fight and was replaced by the hefty Jesse Gibbs, who has many titles in karate and jiu-jitsu.
In the future, the Dutchman will become one of the main stars of the 2009 and 2010 M-1 Challenge World Team Championships and will win a number of impressive victories. But first he had to fight the formidable Alexander, who by that time was already the star of the Pride FC tournaments and played in Russia for the third time in his history.