Russia is a country steeped in rich fighting history. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, combat sports saw a huge rise in popularity. It was during this era that Sambo was created, as a result of the government wanting the military to be proficient in hand to hand combat.
Sambo is the base fighting style of many modern Russian MMA fighters, such as Khabib Nurmagomedov himself. The translated word ‘Sambo’ in English literally means ‘self-defense without weapons’. It is a wrestling based combat sport, with some Judo roots as well.
MMA is a natural transition from Sambo for a lot of Russian fighters, and has resulted in many Champions in the sport. In this article, we pick out the best 8 Russian MMA athletes of all time.
- Khabib Nurmagomedov
- Fedor Emelianenko
- Alexander Shlemenko
- Alexander Emelianenko
- Alexy Oleynik
- Sergei Kharitonov
- Oleg Taktarov
- Alexander Volkov
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8. Alexander Volkov
Alexander “Drago” Volkov is a UFC Heavyweight fighter. He is also a former Bellator & M-1 Global Heavyweight Champion.
An absolute giant of a man, he stands at 6 foot 7 inches, making him one of the tallest, and longest, fighters in the UFC. Volkov has been with the UFC since 2016, and has since worked his way up the leaderboard to face some of the promotion’s elite talent. He was 10 seconds away from a title shot against Daniel Cormier, before he was suddenly KO’d by a wild right hand from Derrick Lewis, late in the 5th round.
At only 31 years of age, he has a good few years left to add to his legacy, but so far he has a record of 31-8, with notable wins over; Stevan Struve, Fabricio Werdum & Roy Nelson.
7. Oleg Taktarov
Oleg “The Russian Bear” Taktarov is an old school Russian fighter, who was once a hand to hand instructor for the KGB. This was after starting Sambo & Judo from the age of 12 and later competed in competitions in both as part of his mandatory military service.
He was a 4 time European Jiu-Jitsu Champion and winner of UFC 6. During his time in the UFC, Oleg went to train with Ken Shamrock. When they trained together they always fought behind closed doors, so that noone else could watch them fight.
Oleg holds notable wins over Tank Abbott & Mark Kerr.
Unfortunately, Oleg’s MMA career was ultimately stunted by his true desire, which was acting. In what is one of the more bold routes into Hollywood, Oleg decided to compete in the UFC in order to get in touch with Hollywood stars. This is definitely a different path to trying to get on the guestlist to A-list parties…
He has appeared in; Bad Boys 2, Miami Vice & 15 minutes.
6. SERGEI KHARITONOV
Sergei is another veteran Russian MMA fighter, and one of the best. He has competed in almost all major MMA promotions during his career. He has fought in PRIDE FC, DREAM, Bellator, GLORY, M-1 Global and Strikeforce. Pretty much the only major organisation he hasn’t fought for is the UFC!
He is a former kickboxer but he started training in combat sports from the young age of 10 and at age 16 he began studying another martial art, can you guess which one? Probably yes, Combat Sambo!
After this experience, he was invited to join the Russian Top Team where we was going to be Fedor Emelianenko’s sparring partner. He actually taught Fedor many ground strike moves and submissions!
He has a professional MMA record of 29-7 and has impressive victories over; Matt Mitrione, Roy Nelson, Andrei Arlovski and Alistair Overeem
5. Alexey Oleynik
Alexey “The Boa Constrictor” Oleynik has had more fights than a lot of people have years in their life. his record at writing is 59-14, that’s 73 fights!
As you can probably guess from his fighter nickname, he’s a submission expert. Before he decided to begin his MMA career he competed in grappling tournaments, one of which was hosted by Eddie Alvarez, which Alexey won overall! He then won the World Combat Sambo Championship in 2005.
Oleynik first got into MMA in order to “prove to myself and others that I could be strong…”. It was only when he realised that he was pretty damn good at it that he decided to make it his career.
A true veterain of the sport, he has been competing in MMA competition since 1996. However, it wasn’t until 2014 that he joined the UFC. Since then, he has submitted MMA stars such as Travis Browne & Mark Hunt.
He is the only fighter in the UFC to finish a fight with an Ezekiel choke (which he then did a 2nd time!). He is also the first fighter to compete in 4 different decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s) as well as the first fighter to hold a victory in 4 different decades. Finally, he was the KSW 8 Heavyweight Tournament winner.
4. ALEKSANDER EMELIANENKO
Aleksander “The Grim Reaper” Emelianenko is the younger brother of Fedor Emelianenko, which alone makes that family probably the most dangerous family in existence.
The Emelianenko family grew up poor, and Aleksander spent a lot of his free time in street fights. As his older brother Fedor needed to babysit him, he was taken along to his Sambo training classes, where he first developed an interest in the sport.
Like a lot of Russian fighters, he competed in Sambo before starting his MMA career and he was a 3 time World Combat Sambo Champion. He then transitioned to professional MMA at just 22 years old, fighting in PRIDE FC.
His professional MMA record stands at 28-8. He holds wins over Bob Sapp, Gabriel Gonzaga and James Thompson. Like his older brother, Aleksander is known for his dead-eyed gaze just before a fight. But once the bell rings, he is an elite fighter, backed by decades of varied fighting experience.
He never joined a Western MMA promotion, due to unconfirmed medicals issues which prevented him from being allowed to compete in the US. Speculation was that he had Hepatitis B or C, but we don’t know for sure.
He accomplishing becoming the ProFC Heavyweight Champion in his career.
3. Alexander shlemenko
Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko is another dominant Russian MMA fighter who currently competes in the Bellator promotion in the Middleweight division.
He turned professional in MMA at the young age of 20, and by the end of his 1st year as a pro had accumulated a record of 15-2, after ONE year! Some of those fights took place on the same night, which is quite common for lower level MMA tournaments.
In his early 20s, although he was a pro MMA fighter, he only considered MMA a hobby which made him some money while he focused on his studies. He had almost no ground-game whatsoever which led to Jacare Souza rendering him unconscious through a submission at Jungle Night 5.
After that, he started to focus on his ground game a lot more seriously. He then made his Bellator debut in 2010, and in the same year he became the Bellator Season 2 Middleweight Tournament Winner.
Later, in 2012, Shlemenko became the Bellator Middleweight Champion when he KOd Maiquel Falcao in the 2nd round.
His pro MMA record stands at 59-13.
2. Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko is possibly the most famous Russian MMA fighter of all time. Fedor was a heavyweight fighter who mainly competed in the PRIDE promotion.
When you talk about the greatest MMA fighters of all time, you have to mention Fedor in the conversation. We’re not talking about just Russian fighters, but ALL fighters. He has beaten many of the top heavyweights such as ; Mark Hunt, Mirko Cro Cop, Mak Coleman, Antonio Nogueira & Andrei Arlovski.
He was the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion from 2003-2007, where he was a dominant force! Unfortunately, Fedor never moved to the UFC, however, as we have already seen, this did not stop him facing the best that the heavyweight division has to offer.
Fedor currently holds a professional record of 39-6 and is fighting out his final years in Bellator.
1. Khabib nurmagomedov
Khabib Nurmagomedov, The ‘Eagle’, tops this list of best Russian MMA fighters of all time. Khabib, and his late father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, helped to put Dagestan (a republic of Russia) on the World map.
Khabib is a fearsome fighter, who competes in the UFC’s lightweight division. He is undefeated in 28 fights (28-0), and has beaten world class fighters such as; Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Edson Barboza & Rafael Dos Anjos.
His fighting style is almost purely that of a grappler. He mauls his opponents to the ground, releasing thunderous ‘ground and pound’ on his fatigued opponents. What makes Khabib so special is that every fighter he faces knows what his gameplan is, yet so far, noone has found a way to stop him from implementing it.
Although Khabib’s walkaround weight can be around 200 lbs (he competes at 155 lbs) it is not his strength that makes him so difficult to fight, but his tenacity in grappling. At least, this is what Dustin Poirier said about him after their fight.
It’s possible that Khabib learnt to grapple so well by play fighting with small bears when he was a child. There’s actually a video of him doing this as a young boy, which you can see here.
Khabib wears a Paphaka to his fights, in order to show the world his Dagestan heritage. He is a humble man who has become a symbol in the muslim world and may well retire undefeated. Which, in the world of MMA, is absolutely astonishing.
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