History was made earlier today when light heavyweight Matt Clempner became the first British fighter ever to sign a multi-fight deal with Russian promotion M-1 Global.

Clempner (2-0), 32-years-old, made his professional debut in October 2016 when he defeated Polish fighter Andrej Bochorz at UK Fighting Championships 2 via a first round submission.

He then followed up that win with another first round submission victory over IMMAF European gold medallist Ben Forsyth at BAMMA 30 last July.

Matt Clempner sinks a savage Inverted Triangle for the win in the 1st! #BAMMA30 #Dublin #MMA Publicerat av BAMMA den 7 juli 2017

With the building blocks of a solid career now under him and with instrumental work of Ian Freeman, Clempner has now signed a 6 fight deal with M-1 Global and will debut in China on May 12.

Before turning professional in MMA, Clempner won accolades in several disciplines of martial arts including becoming a Sambo World Champion and a Judo Commonwealth medallist. The HD Fight Management man now has the opportunity of a lifetime to make a big impact in Russia and capture further honours.

M-1 Global was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia. The public faces of M-1 Global are President, Vadim Finkelstein and the man who many consider to be one of the greatest MMA fighters of al, Fedor Emelianenko who is also a part owner in the organization.