MMA Nation - Before Fedor: Five Former Soviet Fighters Who Pioneered Modern MMAhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/33343/mma-icon.png2011-07-30T11:47:50-07:00http://mma.sbnation.com/rss/stream/20604792011-07-30T11:47:50-07:002011-07-30T11:47:50-07:00Igor 'Ice Cold' Vovchanchyn, The King Of The 8 Man Tournament
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d2QZmlON7aTwA2hr3cXC7_eHuyc=/0x0:450x300/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47827633/default.43.0.jpg" />
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<p><a target="_blank" href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/673223/igorv.jpg"><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/673223/igorv_medium.jpg" align="right" class="photo" alt="Igorv_medium"></a>We're wrapping up our series on post-Soviet fighters before <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122490/fedor-emelianenko" class="sbn-auto-link">Fedor Emelianenko</a> today with a look at Igor Vovchanchyn, the Ukranian kickboxer who won more 8 man No Holds Barred tournaments in the 1990s than anyone else.</p>
<p>Igor's an outlier from the other 4 legends of the 1990's (Oleg Taktarov, Igor Zinoviev, Volk Han and Mikhail Ilioukhine) in many ways. He's the only non-Russian for one thing, the only one of the group who was not at least 50% grappler, and he went on to have the most successful post-2000 career of them all.</p>
<p>Vovchanchyn's historical significance to MMA is he, along with Marco Ruas, Maurice Smith and Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons, proved that strikers could sometimes beat grapplers in no-rules bouts. That was big stuff we take for granted today, but at the time it was a revolution in nascent sport ruled by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Japanese shoot fighters, Russian Sambo practicioners and wrestlers.</p>
<p>Fedor Emelianenko fans who go back and watch Igor's seemingly endless series of overhand right knock outs will recognize the exact same punching technique Fedor built his career on. Like Igor, Fedor's career has been dogged with hand injuries. Ultimately a shattered right hand forced Igor to retire in 2005 at the age of 30 with an incredible 54-10-1, 1 NC record (per Wikipedia).</p>
<p>Ironically Vovchanchyn's success in the Pride era means he's exponentially better known to this generation of MMA fans than any of the other four. That's not how it was in the 1990's.</p>
<p>Unlike Taktarov and Zinoviev, who starred in several major pay-per-view events in the U.S. or Han and Ilioukhine, who were stars of Japan's Rings organization, Vovchanchyn was primarily a legend on the underground VHS tape trading black market.</p>
<p>He was "the other Igor" because Igor Zinoviev was the one best known to American fans, who'd seen him on several American pay per views and commercially available videos. Igor Vovchanchyn was strictly for the hard-core fans who ordered grainy VHS tapes coming from Russia by way of Japan. We eagerly awaited our packages in the mail and sat through hours of sloppy, brutal NHB fights with no English language commentary just to see Igor knock clowns the eff out.</p>
<p>Igor first came to prominence in the second Absolute Fighting tournament (confusingly remembered to history as IAFC 1) in 1995. It was a 24 man field and Igor won six fights in one night. Two of those fights were wins over BJJ blackbelt Adilson Lima -- who protested his first loss so vociferously he got a do-over only for Igor to KTFO him again. Igor lost to eventual runner up Mikhail Ilioukhine in the semi-finals via chin to the eye. </p>
<p>It would be Vovchanchyn's last loss for five years. In that 1996-2000 span he won an incredible 35 fights and won at least 10 (record keeping is extremely poor for Russian NHB tournaments in the 1990's) four, eight and sixteen man tournament. Scroll down for animated gifs of Igor clowning fools.</p>
<p>The original Igor was a 5'9" ~190lb fighter who was lithe, lean and incredibly strong. In order to cope with the giants he regularly met in no weight class tournaments he ballooned up to an excessive 200+lbs. Had he fought today he'd likely have fought at middle-or even welterweight. </p>
<p>Igor would go on to hand Mark Kerr - the most feared wrestler of early MMA -- his first loss in a bout that was later ruled a No Contest because for that one Pride event knees to the head of a grounded opponent were illegal. To "real NHB" fans like myself, we knew what we saw -- Igor beat the might Mark Kerr fair and square, rules were for chumps, this was No Holds Barred dang it.</p>
<p>He went on to lose to Kerr's peer <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/131281/mark-coleman" class="sbn-auto-link">Mark Coleman</a> in the finals of Pride's incredible 2000 Grand Prix Open. From there he remained near the top of Pride's heavyweight division until 2002/2003 when he lost 3 of four fights to Heath Herring, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122513/quinton-jackson" class="sbn-auto-link">Quinton "Rampage" Jackson</a>, and <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122491/mirko-filipovic" class="sbn-auto-link">Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic</a>. </p>
<p>Here's some gifs of the kinds of work Igor did back in the day.</p>
<p>Here he's beating UFC 7 semi-finalist Paul "Polar Bear" Varelens, a 6'8", 300lb monster at IFC 1 in Kiev in March 1996. This was the final round of the tournament. Needless to say, Igor won.</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769706/i18487_IgorVovchanchynvsPaulVarelansIFC1.gif"><img src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769706/i18487_IgorVovchanchynvsPaulVarelansIFC1_medium.gif" class="photo" alt="I18487_igorvovchanchynvspaulvarelansifc1_medium"></a></p>
<p>Below he's beating Roman Tikunov at Mr. Powerman in Belrus, January 1996</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769709/i18488_IgorVovchanchynvsRomanTikunovMSG96.gif"><img src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769709/i18488_IgorVovchanchynvsRomanTikunovMSG96_medium.gif" class="photo" alt="I18488_igorvovchanchynvsromantikunovmsg96_medium"></a></p>
<p>Below he's creaming Oleg Tischenko at the Ukranian Octagon event in March 1996.</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769712/i18486_IgorVovchanchynvsOlegTischenkoDNRF96.gif"><img src="http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769712/i18486_IgorVovchanchynvsOlegTischenkoDNRF96_medium.gif" class="photo" alt="I18486_igorvovchanchynvsolegtischenkodnrf96_medium"></a></p>
<p>Below he's doing in Nikolai Yatsuk, also at the Mr Powerman tournament. </p>
<p><a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769715/i18485_IgorVovchanchynvsNikolaiYatsukMSG96.gif"><img src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769715/i18485_IgorVovchanchynvsNikolaiYatsukMSG96_medium.gif" class="photo" alt="I18485_igorvovchanchynvsnikolaiyatsukmsg96_medium"></a></p>
https://mma.sbnation.com/2011/7/30/2305627/igor-ice-cold-vovchanchyn-the-king-of-the-8-man-tournamentNate Wilcox2011-07-30T05:01:01-07:002011-07-30T05:01:01-07:00Mikhail Ilioukhine, The Forgotten Russian Legend of Old School MMA Tape Traders
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d2QZmlON7aTwA2hr3cXC7_eHuyc=/0x0:450x300/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47827633/default.43.0.jpg" />
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<p><a href="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769501/illoukhine.jpg"><img src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769501/illoukhine_medium.jpg" align="right" alt="Illoukhine_medium"></a>Of all the Russian MMA pioneers we're covering in this series, Ilioukhine is the least well-remembered. But when early MMA came to Russia in 1995, only about 18 months after the first UFC and about a year after first Vale Tudo Japan, Ilioukhine was by far the most successful fighter.</p>
<p>He won the first IAFC (Absolute Fighting Championship) tournament in July 1995, beating five opponents in one day. The event was a legend among old school MMA fans (then called No Holds Barred) who traded VHS tapes of fights. It featured 16 Russian fighters, had no English-language commentary, and featured the bizarre blend of completely brutal mismatches, fiascos, and incredible, gritty violent fights that were typical of MMA back in the day.</p>
<p>It says a great deal about Russia's tradition of combat sports that when NHB first emerged in Japan and the U.S., the Russians were able to mount a major tournament featuring none of the Brazilian imports that had dominated the scenes in both North American and the Far East. Nope Mikhail used his considerable Sambo grappling skills to sweep through the tournament. He won four of his five fights via achilles lock. The finals, against the gritty scrapper and Judo player Victor Yerohin, required him to use a rear naked choke. </p>
<p>More than even Oleg Taktarov, Ilioukhine trained fans to associate Sambo with leg locks.</p>
<p>In the second IAFC tournament (confusingly called IAFC 1 in the record books), Ilioukhine worked through a 24 man field with a wider variety of submission attacks. He won with an arm bar, a guillotine choke, his trademark achilles lock and the rarely seen chin to the eye. He pulled that last one off in the quarter finals against Igor Vovchanchyn, a young kickboxer who went on to become a legend in Pride Fighting Championships down the road. Unfortunately for the barely 200lb Ilioukhine (he'd probably have fought at middleweight or even welterweight today) he ran into the beastly 6'8" 270lb Brazilian Ricardo Morais in the finals. </p>
<p>Ilioukhine acquitted himself well against the monstrous Morais, a student of <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/130034/renzo-gracie" class="sbn-auto-link">Renzo Gracie</a>, getting the take down and spending much of the fight in Morais' guard. Unfortunately, Ilioukhine was anything but an effective striker, on the feet or on the ground and when he dropped back for a leg lock, Morais took top position and proceeded to blast Ilioukhine before finishing him with a rear naked choke. </p>
<p>Partly as a result of the notoriety of the IAFC tournaments, Ilioukhine got the opportunity to go to Japan and join Akira Maeda's Rings organization. He joined up with Volk Han's Russian Top Team and became a staple of that worked "shoot fighting" wrestling promotion for the next several years. </p>
<p>He was only a mid-tier performer in Rings' worked era, a protege of Volk Han who never got quite the respect his mentor got from Japanese fans. Similar to a certain <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122598/kazushi-sakuraba" class="sbn-auto-link">Kazushi Sakuraba</a>, Ilioukhine didn't thrive in a worked environment as well as he did in actual "shoots" (matches without a predetermined outcome). </p>
<p>And when Rings dabbled in putting on actual "shoots" (ie real NHB bouts, albeit with more constrained Japanese rules sets) in 1996, Ilioukhine participated, losing to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Adilson Lima. </p>
<p>In 1999 he was a participant in Ring's hugely ambitious first King of Kings 32 man tournament - the event that introduced <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122959/renato-sobral" class="sbn-auto-link">Renato "Babalu" Sobral</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122498/antonio-rodrigo-nogueira" class="sbn-auto-link">Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira</a>, and a certain <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122490/fedor-emelianenko" class="sbn-auto-link">Fedor Emelianenko</a> to the world. He picked up two wins in the opening event, which earned him a berth in the final 8 man tournament. Unfortunately he ran into Babalu Sobral in the opening round and lost via arm bar.</p>
<p>Later that year he picked up a very controversial submission win over Randy Couture in a Rings event in 1999. Video of that fight is below. After managing to hang with Couture in the clinch for almost eight minutes, getting the worst of Couture's dirty boxing, Ilioukhine attempted a kimura in the corner of the ring. When the fight was paused and restarted in the center of the ring, Ilioukhine finished the submission. Couture immediately complained that Iliouikhine locked on the hold too tight before they were tapped to restart the fight and has disputed the loss ever since.</p>
<p>In the 2000 King of Kings tournament, an equally ambitious undertaking that established Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as the world's top heavyweight, Ilioukhine lost to Tsuyoshi Kosaka in the opening round. Kosaka was Ring's "great Japanese hope", the tough shoot wrestler who gave Fedor Emelianenko his first loss and nearly beat <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/129587/bas-rutten" class="sbn-auto-link">Bas Rutten</a> to earn a UFC title shot in 1999. </p>
<p>Poor Ilioukhine was no match for Kosaka on the feet and just got the crap beat out of him, losing by KO. He lost to the fearsome <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/131754/bobby-hoffman" class="sbn-auto-link">Bobby Hoffman</a> via burtal KO at Rings 10th Anniversary show in 2001 and was never really a factor in top level MMA again.</p>
<p>He fought for five more years, even making an appearance in Pride where he lost badly to <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122513/quinton-jackson" class="sbn-auto-link">Quinton "Rampage" Jackson</a> in 2003.</p>
<p>All in all, Ilioukhine should be remembered as an incredibly gritty and brave fighter with dangerous submission skills but no striking whatsoever. He was a Russian champion and a contender in one of Japan's most storied promotions of the turn of the millennium. </p>
<p>Here's Ilioukhine's March 1999 bout with <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122508/randy-couture" class="sbn-auto-link">Randy Couture</a> at Rings Rise 1st:</p>
<p><embed src="http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XNzg4MDYyNzI=/v.swf" quality="high" width="480" height="400" align="middle" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></p>
<p>Here's Mikhail in a prouder moment, beating Igor Vovchanchin in November 1995 in the incredible IAFC Absolute Fighting 1 (which was actually the second IAFC tournament). Ilioukhine used a submission technique that is, to my knowledge unique in modern MMA, the chin to the eye. I'm not even sure if this would be legal or not in today's unified rules environment. My guess is no. (That's an attempt at a joke kids, it's eye gouging and is patently against the rules).</p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="316" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xupoz"></iframe><br><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xupoz_iafc-01-mikhail-illoukhine-vs-igor_sport" target="_blank">IAFC - 01 Mikhail Illoukhine vs Igor Vov</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/warshark42" target="_blank">warshark42</a></i></p>
https://mma.sbnation.com/2011/7/30/2304944/mikhail-ilioukhine-the-forgotten-russian-legend-of-old-school-mmaNate Wilcox2011-07-29T13:25:55-07:002011-07-29T13:25:55-07:00Volk Han, The Man Who Brought Sambo And Fedor To Japan
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d2QZmlON7aTwA2hr3cXC7_eHuyc=/0x0:450x300/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47827633/default.43.0.jpg" />
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<p><a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769021/Volk.jpg"><img align="right" src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/769021/Volk_medium.jpg" alt="Volk_medium"></a>So far in our little look back at the fighters from the former Soviet Union who helped shape modern MMA, we've looked at guys who made their mark in the USA: Oleg Taktarov and Igor Zinoviev. </p>
<p>Now it's time to go east young man and take a look at what was happening in Japan even earlier in the 1990's. Japanese wrestlers had been obsessed with the old school "shoot" wrestling (ie actual sporting matches without predetermined endings) since the 1970s when Antonio Inoki pioneered the cross-sport match. They were all works, with the exception of his disastrous bout with Muhammad Ali, but it was still cool to see wrestlers against champions of other combat sports like boxing, karate, judo, etc. </p>
<p>Throughout the 1980s pro wrestling in Japan just kept getting "stiffer" -- ie the wrestlers did more and more real striking and grappling in the matches -- but were still "works" -- ie the outcome was decided in advance. </p>
<p>Things really took off in the late 1980s when a new generation of Japanese pro-wrestlers decided to see how far they could advance Inoki's "reality based" approach. </p>
<p>One of the ringleaders of this movement was a guy named Akira Maeda. A talented and popular pro-wrestler who founded his own promotion, called Rings, in at the end of the 1980s. </p>
<p>Rings was all worked fights, but done as stiffly as possible with an emphasis on submission grappling. As part of his obsession with realism, Maeda scoured the globe for combat sports athletes. He brought in kickboxers and grapplers from Holland, then he went to Russia.</p>
<p>And that's where he found Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov or Volk Han as he's better known. Han came to Rings in 1991 and introduced Sambo, with its fearsome leg locks and emphasis on going for the quick submission to Japan.</p>
<p>Basically what Oleg Taktarov did in the USA, Han did in the Land of the Rising Sun. He personified the skilled, stoic and fearsome Russian fighter archetype we've come to know and love.</p>
<p>Despite what you might find on Wikipedia or the Sherdog Fight Finder, most of Han's bouts in Rings were works, but towards the end of the 1990s, Maeda adapted to market realities and began to incorporate real shoots into Rings cards.</p>
<p>In 1999 and 2000, Rings put on what were the best MMA tournaments ever mounted up to that time. The first Pride Open Grand Prix was a few months later. Han participated in the second of those tournaments. Despite being 40 years old and injured he acquitted himself well, winning two fights in the opening event to advance to the final 8 man tournament.</p>
<p>He lost to a young <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122498/antonio-rodrigo-nogueira">Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira</a> in the opening bout of the final 8 man tournament but it was a very respectable showing for an aging pro wrestler taking part in MMA for the first time. </p>
<p>More importantly to history, Han brought a slew of other fighters with him from the former Soviet Union including Mikhail Ilioukhine and a certain Fedor Emelianenko. Han not only recruited the younger fighters, he also trained them at the Russian Top Team. </p>
<p>A lot has changed in the last ten years, for one thing it's not the same wide open booming global economy that had young Russian men traveling the world in pursuit of opportunity. Promoters like M-1 Global have tried to keep the pipeline to world MMA open to Russia's hordes of talented combat athletes, but we may never see the like of Fedor again.</p>
<p>Another key factor has to be the absence of a guru figure like Volk Han who can shape younger atheletes and spur them on to greater accomplishments than he himself achieved. </p>
<p>Here's Volk Han in action at Rings Millennium Combine 2 back in June of 2000 against Brandon Lee Hinkle, a training partner of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/131281/mark-coleman">Mark Coleman</a> and a future UFC fighter.</p>
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https://mma.sbnation.com/2011/7/29/2302951/volk-han-the-man-who-brought-sambo-and-fedor-to-japanNate Wilcox2011-07-27T22:29:23-07:002011-07-27T22:29:23-07:00Igor Zinoviev, The Houdini Who Broke BJJ's Spell
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d2QZmlON7aTwA2hr3cXC7_eHuyc=/0x0:450x300/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47827633/default.43.0.jpg" />
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<p><a target="_blank" href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/670988/IgorZinoviev.jpg"><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/670988/IgorZinoviev_medium.jpg" align="right" alt="Igorzinoviev_medium"></a>The second notable Russian fighter to come to the attention of American cage fighting fans (it wasn't called MMA yet) was Igor Zinoviev.</p>
<p>A Russian special forces veteran who combined Judo, Sambo and kickboxing with the stoic Russian style fans of Fedor know so well, Zinoviev was the first fighter to beat a BJJ black belt on a major American pay-per-view event.</p>
<p>Sadly, if he's remembered today at all, it's for his career ending loss to <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/130217/frank-shamrock">Frank Shamrock</a> at UFC 16.</p>
<p>When Igor Zinoviev faced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion Mario Sperry at the finals of the first Extreme Fighting Championships in November 1995, he was expected to lose.</p>
<p>As formidable as Zinoviev had looked in his 40 second win in the opening round of the 4-man tournament, fans of caged mayhem had already learned that you never bet against the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter. </p>
<p>And Mario Sperry wasn't just any Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter. He was being touted as "the Zen Machine", an implacable, invincible killer with a ridiculous 99-0 record (they must've been counting slap fights he had with his brothers or something). </p>
<p>But lookout, almost 12 minutes into their bout and Zinoviev, despite having spent a considerable amount of time in "the dreaded mount position" was looking anything but beat. And the "Zen Machine" was looking more and more flustered. Suddenly Igor got back to his feet and Sperry tried to leap up on his back (see animated gif below), not very smart so far into a very hot and sweaty fight. Sperry slipped off and Zinoviev wasted no time kneeing him in the face (legal at the time). The cut that opened up on Sperry's head forced the fight to be stopped. </p>
<p>Here are two looks at the final moments of the fight. The stoppage seemed very weird to me at the time and was never adequately explained by the announcers, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Sperry had been beaten. </p>
<p><a href="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/768035/i18378_ZinovievSperry2.gif"><img src="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/768035/i18378_ZinovievSperry2_medium.gif" class="photo" alt="I18378_zinovievsperry2_medium"></a> <a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/768038/i18377_ZinovievSperry1.gif"><img src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/768038/i18377_ZinovievSperry1_medium.gif" class="photo" alt="I18377_zinovievsperry1_medium"></a></p>
<p>Just like that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu had been beaten and on American pay-per-view no less. There's a first time for everything and Igor Zinoviev was the "Houdini" who escaped from all of Sperry's submission attempts and hung on to beat not just Mario Sperry but the very myth of BJJ invincibility. </p>
<p>He did it by being one of the first fighters to combine a well-rounded martial arts background -- Igor trained in karate, wrestling, Judo, Sambo and kickboxing -- with a formidable athleticism. He topped it off with the kind of inscrutable Russian stoicism that MMA fans have learned to associate with <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122490/fedor-emelianenko">Fedor Emelianenko</a>. </p>
<p>For the next 30 months, Zinoviev was at or near the top of everyone's list of top fighters in the game. His reputation reached its zenith when he mauled Shooto's heavyweight (199lbs) champ <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/130783/enson-inoue">Enson Inoue</a> at Vale Tudo Japan 1996. </p>
<p>That was the third annual installment of Japan's first (almost) No Holds Barred event. The fighters wore gloves and no elbows were allowed, it was the event that laid the ground work for the later Pride rules set. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/130371/rickson-gracie">Rickson Gracie</a> had established his reputation at the 1994 and 1995 Vale Tudo Japan events. </p>
<p>Igor didn't do anything fancy against Inoue. No, he just let Enson pull guard and proceeded to knock him the f__k out. In 44 seconds. Here's the ending:</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/768050/i18382_ZinovievInoue1.gif"><img src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/768050/i18382_ZinovievInoue1_medium.gif" class="photo" alt="I18382_zinovievinoue1_medium"></a></p>
<p>A couple of defenses of his Extreme Fighting title later and Igor was ready to move on to the UFC. Expectations were high for his debut in a middleweight (200lbs) title fight against Frank Shamrock. Shamrock had won the title by arm-barring Olympic gold medal freestyle wrestler Kevin Jackson in 16 seconds. The smart money said that Zinoviev was too canny to fall into an easy submission and that he was likely too physical for the younger Shamrock. </p>
<p>After all, Shamrock had been worn down by the brutality of John Lober in his NHB debut and Zinoviev had taken everything Lober could dish out in their EFC bout (a tie that would have been an easy decision win for Igor had there been judges).</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Igor and his fans, Shamrock had noticed a different, but very glaring weakness in Zinoviev's game -- when opponents shot in for a take down, instead of sprawling, Igor would grab a headlock and turtle around his opponent's body. That generally set him up well to pull guard and ride out a submission attack. Unfortunately, it also made it very easy to do this:</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767993/3160ruv.gif"><img alt="3160ruv_medium" class="photo" src="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767993/3160ruv_medium.gif"></a></p>
<p>Yup, Shamrock slammed Igor unconscious, shattered his collar bone and ended his career all in 22 seconds. </p>
<p>Looking back on Igor's career from the perspective of online fight finder databases, it's easy to dismiss a guy who went 4-1-2 in a 2 and 1/2 year career as less than a significant factor in MMA history. </p>
<p>That's where you're wrong. Anyone who was paying attention at the time had a hearty respect for the accomplishments of Igor Zinoviev, the man who showed America that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was just an effective fighting style, not an invincible secret formula. </p>
<p> </p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px;">(Gifs by Grappo of Bloody Elbow)</p>
https://mma.sbnation.com/2011/7/27/2298508/igor-zinoviev-the-houdini-who-broke-bjjs-spellNate Wilcox2011-07-27T05:00:57-07:002011-07-27T05:00:57-07:00Oleg 'The Russian Bear' Taktarov The Lovable, Immovable UFC Champ
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d2QZmlON7aTwA2hr3cXC7_eHuyc=/0x0:450x300/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47827633/default.43.0.jpg" />
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<p><a href="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767262/oleg-taktarov-1-225x299.jpg"><img alt="Oleg-taktarov-1-225x299_medium" class="photo" align="right" src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767262/oleg-taktarov-1-225x299_medium.jpg"></a>UFC 6 was the first UFC I ever saw live on pay-per-view. I'd seen the videos for UFC 2, 3, and 4 by that point so I was expecting to see some Brazilian dudes tapping people out left and right with secret submission holds I didn't know were possible .</p>
<p>But I wasn't ready for David "Tank" Abbott, a burly brawler with a background in collegiate wrestling and some boxing skills. Tank cracked fools hard through the first two rounds of the eight man tournament and had everyone I was watching with completely gobsmacked and awestruck. No one was thinking much about Oleg Taktarov, the man he was going to meet in the finals.</p>
<p>No one but me that is. Seeing Royce Gracie's epic wins had made me a big-time believer in grappling. Seeing Oleg Taktarov, a mild-mannered Russian grappler get two quick tap outs to advance to the finals gave me hope that brains would beat brawn in the final. I just knew the skilled Russian would unleash a submission hold and force Tank to tap.</p>
<p>Well Oleg did get the tap out, but it took more than skill to beat the fearsome Tank. Despite his nickname being "The Russian Bear", Oleg was the one who seemed to be locked in the cage with a grizzly. Tank had a huge advantage in raw power and in the early moments of the fight, he threw hard punches and threw Oleg around the cage.</p>
<p>But Oleg had incredible heart, an incredible chin and an indomitable will. As Tank tired and gasped in the thin Wyoming air, Oleg maintained the same methodical pace and finally got on an utterly spent Tank's back and applied the rear naked choke. </p>
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<p>Oleg Taktarov, a former KGB martial arts instructor with a couple of World Sambo Championship belts to his name, had come to the U.S. to act in movies. He found it was easier to get gigs in the cage than in front of the cameras. He began training at Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den and soon found himself in the UFC. </p>
<p>Dan Severn made short work of Oleg at UFC 5, but he grabbed the glory at the next UFC. He went on to fight Ken Shamrock to a draw at UFC 7, in a fight that would have been an easy win for Shamrock had there been judges in those days. Both men later said it was hard to go all out against each other after training together at the Lion's Den.</p>
<p>Then he lost again to Dan Severn in the finals of "The Ultimate Ultimate" after beating the vaunted Marco Ruas in the semi-finals. Severn dominated the fight, but Taktarov was game and nearly tapped Severn at least twice with submission attacks. </p>
<p>Oleg left the UFC for greener pastures at that point. He signed with MARS to headline their big budget pay-per-view debut against Renzo Gracie. Unfortunately, Oleg lost to Renzo via the first upkick KO seen in modern MMA. </p>
<p>Oleg kept fighting. He went down to Brazil for a rematch with Marco Ruas, this time on Ruas' home turf. Again it was a slow paced stinker of a fight, but without a tournament to force a decision, was ruled a tie.</p>
<p>He then went on to score an uncharacteristic one punch KO over Sean Alvarez before accepting a lucrative offer to fight in Japan's newest promotion, Pride Fighting Championships. Unfortunately, Gary Goodridge pasted Oleg with a one punch KO and Oleg Taktarov was done as a high level attraction in MMA. </p>
<p>It was a good run and for many American fans, Oleg epitomized the favorable view of Russians we had at the time. He was quiet. He was durable and determined, dangerous but not frightening. </p>
<p>Oleg also introduced Sambo, the top secret martial art of the Soviet military during the Cold War, to American fans. Japanese fans already knew about Sambo thanks to the guy we'll discuss in the next installment. </p>
<p>Oleg attempted an MMA come back in 2007-2008 and tapped out fellow MMA memory Mark Kerr at the notorious YAMMA event. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, he did eventually get that Hollywood acting thing going on. He's got 29 film credits in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0847727/" target="_blank">his IMDB entry</a> including <i>Predators</i> (2010) and <i>15 Minutes</i> starring Robert DeNiro.</p>
<p>As an extra bonus, Grappo from Bloody Elbow has made a couple of gifs showing Oleg's submission acumen in action. Ben Thapa, who covers grappling for Bloody Elbow has more in-depth analysis. First up, Oleg vs Dave Beneteau at UFC 6:</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767597/i18363_TaktarovUFC.6.gif"><img alt="I18363_taktarovufc" class="photo" src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767597/i18363_TaktarovUFC.6_medium.gif"></a></p>
<p>Here we see the very first instance of a fighter dropping to guard to pull off an arm-in guillotine in UFC history. The roll that Oleg starts the move with is a beauty that I don't think I've seen since. Beneteau, an accomplished amateur wrestler, has a crouching Oleg in a body lock and he leans back for the throw, but Oleg rolls with his momentum, dropping Beneteau to the floor and continuing to roll free. In the ensuing scramble he grabs Beneteau's neck, locks in the guillotine and moves into guard where he forces the tap. </p>
<p>Ben Thapa adds:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>After a scramble created by Beneteau tossing Oleg to the mats, Beneteau goes for a sloppy takedown and Oleg gets an overhook on Beneteau's right arm and starts to control Beneteau's head with his own right arm. Beneteau leaves his neck exposed and Oleg brings the head controlling arm even further downwards and transitions into a classic arm-in guillotine. Note that Oleg's knees come up to prevent Beneteau from coming around to side control - which would relieve the pressure the guillotine is placing on his neck and carotids. The last section of the gif has Oleg holding on confidently until Beneteau taps.</p>
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<p>Next, here's the rematch at the Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tournament:</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767606/i18364_TaktarovUFC.7.5.gif"><img alt="I18364_taktarovufc" class="photo" src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/767606/i18364_TaktarovUFC.7.5_medium.gif"></a></p>
<p>This time Oleg drops and rolls to attack Beneteau's right leg. He looks for a heel hook briefly but then settles on an achilles lock. Beneteau kicks Oleg in the face -- a move that would be illegal today since you can't kick the head of a grounded opponent -- and then quickly taps out. </p>
<p>Ben Thapa adds:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Taktarov and Beneteau are in a clinch and the unsuspecting Beneteau has allowed Taktarov to cleverly position himself off-center to go for one of sambo's greatest staples: the rolling leglock. As Oleg starts to drop, he kicks his left foot up into the space behind Dave's right knee and leg. This is crucial for the controlling of the leg that is to follow. As Oleg continues his drop and rolls over his right shoulder, Dave senses that something is wrong and starts attempting to collapse. Taktarov has already anticipated this and he puts his left arm out to keep Beneteau's legs separate, so he can struggle through if needed. Oleg's right arm is starting to control the foot and true to sambo form, he wants a kneebar on Dave. He brings the right foot back to cross it over his left foot in a position behind Beneteau's leg.</p>
<p>However, Dave has managed to struggle back upright and his foot moves outwards as he tries to turn into Oleg. With the kneebar set-up not being ideal, Oleg continues to maintain control of the leg and allows Dave to continue turning. Once Beneteau has turned into Taktarov fully, Oleg has gotten Dave's foot in a great position for a cross-body heel hook or ankle lock and uses a momentary straightening of his legs to off-balance Dave. With that tiny push, Beneteau topples to the mat and half-heartedly tries to get closer to Taktarov. One of the usual leglock defenses is to scootch up close and then grip fight to free the trapped leg. This doesn't work and Beneteau actually helps finish himself, as he leans back and switches tactics to go for a kick with the free foot. That allows Oleg to extend the trapped leg and place his hands just right to finish the cross-body heel hook. This is pure, raw sambo and displays wonderful awareness of the chains of leglocks possible from that position.</p>
<p>*Note that there's all kinds of different names for the roll and the leglocks attempted and achieved - in English, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese or the other languages leglocks are discussed in.</p>
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https://mma.sbnation.com/2011/7/27/2296731/oleg-the-russian-bear-taktarov-the-lovable-immovable-ufc-champNate Wilcox2011-07-26T21:28:45-07:002011-07-26T21:28:45-07:00Before Fedor: 5 Former Soviet Fighters That Pioneered Modern MMA
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<p>For the past eight years, one man has stood atop the heavyweight division of MMA, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/122490/fedor-emelianenko">Fedor Emelianenko</a>, the Last Emperor. He single-handidly insured that the countries of the former Soviet Union were respected as a major source of MMA talent. </p>
<p>For much of the time that Fedor ruled Pride Fighting Championship's heavyweight division, his rival <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mma/fighter/129236/andrei-arlovski">Andrei Arlovski</a> (a Belorussian) held the UFC heavyweight belt. Between the two of them, fans had a healthy respect for Russia and her former vassal states as a source of top-tier MMA talent.</p>
<p>Now that Fedor and Arlovski have fallen from the heights of the sport, Russian fighters are at best an afterthought.</p>
<p>But that's not how it was in the 1990's. </p>
<p>Back then, fighters coming out of the former Soviet Union were a key part of the heady international mix that built the sport. The Brazilians were the first to dominate modern MMA (then called No Holds Barred) but American, Japanese, Dutch and Russian fighters all played key roles. </p>
<p>I'm going to talk about 5 of those fighters in this series: <a target="_blank" href="http://mma.sbnation.com/2011/7/27/2296731/oleg-the-russian-bear-taktarov-the-lovable-immovable-ufc-champ">UFC champ Oleg Taktarov</a>; EFC champ Igor Zinoviev; Igor Vovchanchyn, king of the 8 man tournaments; and RINGS fighters Volk Han and Mikhail Ilioukhine. </p>
https://mma.sbnation.com/2011/7/26/2338470/before-fedor-5-former-soviet-fighters-that-pioneered-modern-mmaNate Wilcox