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Oleg Taktarov

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Nikolaevich and the family name is Taktarov.
Oleg Taktarov
Taktarov in July 2010
BornOleg Nikolaevich Taktarov
(1967-08-26) 26 August 1967 (age 57)
Arzamas-16, Gorky Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Native nameОле́г Такта́ров
Other namesThe Russian Bear
NationalityRussian
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
DivisionHeavyweight
StanceOrthodox
Fighting out ofGorky, Russia
RankMaster of Sport in Sambo
3rd dan black belt in Judo
4th dan black belt in Jujutsu
Years active1989–1998, 2001, 2007–2008 (MMA) 1997-Present (Acting) 2007, 2023 (Boxing)
Mixed martial arts record
Total24
Wins17
By knockout2
By submission14
By decision1
Losses5
By knockout3
By decision2
Draws2
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
Last updated on: March 10, 2011 (2011-03-10)

Oleg Nikolaevich Taktarov (Russian: Оле́г Никола́евич Такта́ров; born 26 August 1967) is a Russian actor and retired mixed martial artist. He was a practitioner of Sambo and Judo and competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships. He won the UFC 6 tournament.[1] He holds notable wins over Marco Ruas, Tank Abbott, Mark Kerr, and Anthony Macias. Taktarov is of mixed Mari and Russian background.[2][3][4][5]

Mixed martial arts career

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Taktarov started his experience in martial arts at 12, when he took up both judo and sambo.[6] He started competing in those disciplines during his obligatory military service, at one point also becoming a hand-to-hand instructor for the KGB,[7] until he retired at 22 in order to become a businessman. However, according to Taktarov, in 1989 he would find himself attracted to a jacketed mixed martial arts event called Jujutsu Full Contact, whose four first editions he won in dominant fashion. He also trained in jujutsu around this time, becoming a four time European champion.[6] In October 1993, Taktarov and a training partner participated in the White Dragon MMA tournament in Latvia, but were forced to flee from the country due to political tensions. He would land in United States, as he planned to pursue a film acting career, though this would be delayed by his lack of fluency in English language.[6][7]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

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Originally travelling to North America, the goal of Taktarov was originally to become an actor but he decided to become a professional fighter in order to gain a visa extension.[8] In order to get in touch with Hollywood actors, and having watched the Ultimate Fighting Championship event UFC 2, Taktarov contacted the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in 1994, offering himself to train Royce Gracie in sambo leglocks. Although he was accepted as a training partner after proving his skill against several instructors, he was ultimately rejected due to his inability to pay the fee. Taktarov next contacted the UFC management in order to participate himself for the prize money, being advised that he was already familiar with that kind of competition and had a chance of winning. He was finally accepted into the UFC 5 tournament in April, and would later find out that the Gracie family had previously pressed to keep him out of the UFC.[6] A week before the event, Taktarov dislocated his knee, but he decided not to pull out of the tournament.[6]

Taktarov was billed in the event as "The Russian Bear," a stereotypical nickname invented by his manager, and hailed as a Sambo representative, as this was the most exotic martial art in Taktarov's background. However, he stood out for his friendly demeanor, showing an infectious smile to the camera while introducing himself instead of the intimidating faces and postures other fighters were striking.[7] His first fight was against Kempo Karate expert Ernie Verdicia, whom Oleg quickly submitted by pulling guard, sweeping him between his strikes, and locking an arm triangle choke for the tapout. He advanced round to meet Greco-Roman wrestler Dan Severn, but Taktarov's injured knee limited his performance, already disadvantaged by 55 lbs. Severn took the Russian down, passed his guard and blocked him against the cage wall, where Taktarov was repeatedly hit with knee strikes and headbutts while he tried to look for submissions. As the strikes opened a deep cut on Oleg's face, the referee stopped the fight in Severn's favor.[9]

After the event, Taktarov went to train with Ken Shamrock in his Lion's Den fighting team. He described this time as: "For a month Ken and I fought together. The guys who later became good fighters, like Frank Shamrock or Guy Mezger, were not any competition for me at the time. The only guy I trained with was Ken, and we had battles behind closed doors. Nobody was allowed to watch them."[7]

Taktarov returned at UFC 6, whose first round saw him facing Wrestler and Judoka Dave Beneteau. Although Beneteau took Oleg down and stunned him momentarily with punches, Taktarov answered by scoring his own takedown and tapping him out with a guillotine choke in the scramble. His next bout was originally against Patrick Smith, but an injury forced the latter to be replaced by Anthony Macias, who shared promoter and training ground with Taktarov. The Russian submitted him in with another guillotine choke in nine seconds, becoming the fastest submission in UFC history in the process. The fighters were unusually booed by the crowd, who suspected the fight to be a work executed to ease Taktarov's way to the finals.[10] In any case, Taktarov went to the main event of the night, being pitted against the much larger fighter Tank Abbott in what commentators called a "skill vs. strength" match.[10] Both Taktarov and Abbott were already tired and dehydrated by the high altitude of Casper, Wyoming, where the event was taking place.[11]

The bout was hard-fought, with Abbott dominating the grappling exchanges and scoring punches while Taktarov remained patient and counterattacked with a variety of strikes and submission attempts. After 17 minutes of back and forth action, with both fighters looking devoid of energy, Taktarov locked a rear naked choke for the tournament victory. He had to be taken to the hospital right after with an oxygen mask on.[10] He was later quoted as, "when I went to the hospital after the fight, they said I barely had enough water in my system, only about one gallon."[11]

Being the reigning tournament champion, Taktarov was set up to fight reigning UFC Champion Ken Shamrock in UFC 7 for the UFC Superfight Championship. Due to his friendship with Shamrock, Taktarov accepted the fight reluctantly and tried to find a way to win without hurting him, although he was unsure whether Shamrock would do the same.[11] As with the previous fight, Taktarov displayed an important amount of toughness while defending from the bottom, spending most of the match laying defensively on his guard while receiving punishment. The fight had a 30-minute time limit and went into three minutes of overtime, but the result was the same, with Shamrock scoring strikes both standing and through his guard. As there was no judges, the fight finished as a draw.[12]

Taktarov then entered the UFC's Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tournament. He rematched Dave Beneteau, who according to Taktarov came to the match having greased himself to difficult the Russian's grip.[11] Unable to throw him, Taktarov resorted to a flying kneebar, and promptly transitioned it into an ankle lock to submit Beneteau. He then went to face Luta Livre exponent and highly regarded UFC 7 champion Marco Ruas. The match was lengthy and slow, with Taktarov trying repeatedly to take Ruas to the ground while the Brazilian caused damage with strikes and made Oleg bleed. After the time went out, however, Taktarov won the decision for his superior aggression during the match. Controversy arose when Ruas's manager Frederico Lapenda complained about the decision.[11] Despite Taktarov being tired after the bout, he advanced round and lastly met Dan Severn in the finals in a rematch of their fight at UFC 5. The Russian clamped another leglock combination in the first few minutes, which he claimed Severn was going to tap out to before Taktarov was forced to release it out of fatigue.[11] The Wrestler then scored headbutts and knee strikes from dominant positions until the end of the bout, including an overtime controlled by way of Boxing, which granted him the decision.[13]

Taktarov ended his UFC career after Ultimate Ultimate, according to him because the management was focused on Shamrock over any other fighter.[11] However, on 21 November 2003, at UFC 45, the UFC conducted a poll amongst the fans to determine the most popular fighters in the history of the UFC. The fans voted Oleg as one of the top 10 most popular fighters in the history of the UFC.

Post-UFC

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After his UFC tenure, Taktarov competed for Japanese promotion Pancrase, where he lost a decision by points to Ryushi Yanagisawa. He then moved to Brazil, where he defeated Joe Charles by submission in World Vale Tudo Championship. There were next talks about a rematch with Marco Ruas, which Taktarov accepted. He even entertained the idea to crash the match with a ringside brawl, which would attract attention by the news media and allow them both to host an anticipated rubber match back in UFC.[11] Ruas's management seemed to get into the idea of setting up a third fight, with his manager Lapenda even making Taktarov promise to fight entirely standing, but Ruas himself fought to win. With one minute left in the clock, Taktarov finally took Ruas down, but he allowed the bout to end in a draw. However, interest was little and the rubber match never happened.[11]

Taktarov returned from Brazil with a broken hand, only to find out his manager had put him on a fight against Renzo Gracie for Martial Arts Reality Superfighting in ten days notice.[11] Come the match, Taktarov took Gracie down, but the anticipated grappling battle never took off. Taktarov's injured hand impeded him from grabbing an opportune leglock on Gracie, who capitalized on the lapse to fire an upkick that knocked down Taktarov. He tried to continue fighting, but the kick had opened a deep cut and the fight was stopped.[11]

In 1997, Taktarov traveled back to Brazil to fight decorated ADCC grappler Sean Alvarez in the Pentagon Combat event. Despite Alvarez's size advantage, Taktarov knocked him out with newly polished striking skills.[11] However, he got sent to another match in short notice, this time to Japan in the first ever Pride 1 show on 11 October 1997, facing Canadian heavyweight and UFC veteran Gary Goodridge. Taktarov suffered a frightening knockout loss, receiving strikes even after having been rendered unconscious, and had to be carried out of the arena in a stretcher.[11] In one of his recent interviews he attributed Goodridge's victory to the peak of the anabolic steroid cycle that Goodridge allegedly went through prior to the fight. Taktarov further asserted that Goodridge's following performances (i.e. a string of losses) clearly indicated the downtrend of the steroid cycle.

On June 10, 2007, Taktarov faced Dolph Lundgren in a celebrity boxing match. He won the decision after five rounds.[14]

Return to mixed martial arts

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Prior to making a successful comeback to the sport in 2007, Taktarov's last bout was in 2001. Taktarov announced in an online radio interview in November 2007 his plans to return to MMA with BodogFight.[15] He won his debut match against John Marsh at 33 seconds into the 2nd round of the match by submission (kneebar). His last fight was against UFC 14 and UFC 15 heavyweight champion Mark Kerr, again winning by kneebar.

Taktarov retired from mixed martial arts with a record of 17 wins, 5 losses, and 2 draws.

Submission grappling career

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In 1998, Taktarov competed at the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. He had previously trained with Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners Wallid Ismail, Ricardo Libório and Carlos Barreto. Taktarov fought a "superfight" with multiple champion Mário Sperry, who ultimately defeated Taktarov by points after passing his guard.[16]

Acting career

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After temporarily retiring from mixed martial arts, Taktarov focused on his acting career and starred in the movies Air Force One, Righteous Kill, Bad Boys II, National Treasure, 15 Minutes, 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out and the 2002 version of Rollerball. He also appeared in the first episode of season 3 of Alias entitled The Two[17] and in the NCIS season 5 finale Judgement Day. He has also appeared in a few Russian productions, and was cast in a few releases from 2007, such as We Own the Night.[18] Taktarov also released several instructional Sambo videos and has made an instructional video with Vladimir Vasiliev entitled Russian Mega Fighting.[19] Taktarov more recently starred in Den of Thieves (as Alexi), Robert Rodriguez's franchise sequel, Predators, directed by Nimród Antal.

He is a leading actor in the Russian television series Ex-Wife.

In 2022, he played The Man from Moscow in the film The Man from Toronto.

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1997 Total Force Boris
1997 Absolute Force Boris Checkniov
1997 JAG Russian Officer Episode: "Cowboys & Cossacks"
1997 Air Force One Russian Prison Guard #2
1998 Counter Measures Dmitri, The Engineer
2001 15 Minutes Oleg Razgul
2001 My Friend's Love Affair Boris
2001 The Quickie Boris
2002 Rollerball Oleg "Denny" Denekin
2003 Red Serpent Sergei Popov
2003 Bad Boys II Josef Kuninskovich
2003 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out Emil Mătăsăreanu TV film
2003 Alias Gordei Volkov Episode: "The Two"
2004 National Treasure Viktor Shippen
2005 Call me Genie Ufa
2005 Law of Corruption Skala
2005 To Hunt an Elk Kamaz 12 episodes
2006 Shift Fetisov
2006 Miami Vice Russian FBI Agent
2007 We Own the Night Pavel Lubyarsky
2007 The Death and Life of Bobby Z Oleg
2007 Rockaway Ivan
2007 A Second Before... Oleg, The Trainer
2008 Montana Nikolai
2008 NCIS Viggo Dratnyev 2 episodes
2008 Righteous Kill Yevgeny Mugalat
2010 Predators Nikolai
2011 Generation P Vovchik
2011 Battlefield 3 Dmitri "Dima" Mayakovsky Video game
2013 Officer Down Oleg Emelyanenko
2013 Viy Gritsko
2017 Battle Drone Grigori Romanov
2018 Den of Thieves Alexi
2022 The Man from Toronto "The Man from Moscow"
2023 The Machine Train Igor
2023 Kvest

Championships and accomplishments

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Mixed martial arts record

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Professional record breakdown
24 matches 17 wins 5 losses
By knockout 2 3
By submission 14 0
By decision 1 2
Draws 2
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Win 17–5–2 Mark Kerr Submission (kneebar) YAMMA Pit Fighting April 11, 2008 1 1:55 Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win 16–5–2 John Marsh Submission (kneebar) BodogFIGHT: USA vs. Russia November 30, 2007 2 0:33 Moscow, Russia
Win 15–5–2 Aaron Salinas Submission (armbar) Total Kombat May 13, 2001 1 1:24 McAllen, Texas, United States
Win 14–5–2 Moti Horenstein Submission (kneebar) National Freesparring February 21, 1998 1 3:24 Almaty, Kazakhstan
Win 13–5–2 Mick Tierney Submission (kneebar) 1 3:58
Loss 12–5–2 Gary Goodridge KO (punch) Pride 1 October 11, 1997 1 4:57 Tokyo, Japan
Win 12–4–2 Sean Alvarez KO (punches) Pentagon Combat September 27, 1997 1 0:52 Brazil
Win 11–4–2 Chuck Kim Submission (guillotine choke) World Fighting Federation February 24, 1997 1 0:22 Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Loss 10–4–2 Renzo Gracie KO (upkick and punch) Martial Arts Reality Superfighting November 22, 1996 1 1:02 Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Draw 10–3–2 Marco Ruas Draw World Vale Tudo Championship 2 November 10, 1996 1 31:12 Brazil
Win 10–3–1 Joe Charles Submission (kneebar) World Vale Tudo Championship 1 August 14, 1996 1 4:42 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 9–3–1 Ryushi Yanagisawa Decision (lost points) Pancrase - Truth 5 May 16, 1996 1 15:00 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 9–2–1 Dan Severn Decision (unanimous) Ultimate Ultimate 1995 December 16, 1995 1 30:00 Denver, Colorado, United States
Win 9–1–1 Marco Ruas Decision (unanimous) 1 18:00
Win 8–1–1 Dave Beneteau Submission (achilles hold) 1 1:15
Draw 7–1–1 Ken Shamrock Draw UFC 7 September 8, 1995 1 33:00 Buffalo, New York, United States For the UFC Superfight Championship.
Win 7–1 Tank Abbott Submission (rear naked choke) UFC 6 July 14, 1995 1 17:47 Casper, Wyoming, United States Won the UFC 6 Tournament.
Win 6–1 Anthony Macias Submission (guillotine choke) 1 0:09 UFC 6 Tournament Semifinals. Fastest submission in UFC history.
Win 5–1 Dave Beneteau Submission (guillotine choke) 1 0:57 UFC 6 Tournament Quarterfinals.
Loss 4–1 Dan Severn TKO (cut) UFC 5 April 7, 1995 1 4:21 Charlotte, North Carolina, United States UFC 5 Tournament Semifinals.
Win 4–0 Ernie Verdicia Submission (choke) 1 2:23 UFC 5 Tournament Quarterfinals.
Win 3–0 Maxim Kuzin Submission (choke) White Dragon: Day Three October 23, 1993 1 1:11 Riga, Latvia
Win 2–0 Artur Almaev TKO (corner stoppage) White Dragon: Day Two October 22, 1993 1 4:25 Riga, Latvia
Win 1–0 Vaskas Hilma Submission (choke) 1 0:24

Exhibition boxing record

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1 fight 1 win 0 losses
By decision 1 0
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Age Location Notes
1 Win 1–0 Dolph Lundgren UD 5 Jun 10, 2007 39 years and 288 day Luzhniki Small Sports Arena, Moscow, Russia

Submission grappling record

[edit]
Result Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Notes
Loss Brazil Mário Sperry Decision (unanimous) ADCC 1998 1998 1 N/A
Loss Brazil Bueau Hershberger Decision (unanimous) ADCC 1998 1998 1 10:00
Win United Arab Emirates Hani Madi Decision (unanimous) ADCC 1998 1998 1 10:00

See also

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References

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  1. ^ valetudo.ru. "Oleg Taktarov exclusive interview". valetudo.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  2. ^ YouTube. "Oleg Taktarov - "I am Mari"". YouTube (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  3. ^ "Олег Тактаров - биография | Узнай Всё".
  4. ^ "Личная жизнь Олега Тактарова (жена, дети - 3 сына). Национальность спортсмена и актера / Представители шоу-бизнеса".
  5. ^ "Прекрасный актёр и профессиональный боец - Олег Тактаров. Кто он по национальности и где родился". 15 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e Robin Postell, Robert W. Young, Go for the Legs! Throughout his Life, Sambo Expert Oleg Taktarov Has Sworn by Leg Locks, Black Belt magazine, April 1999
  7. ^ a b c d "mixed martial arts-Oleg Taktarov". Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  8. ^ "MMA & Sambo Legend - Oleg Taktarov Interview". BjjTribes. 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  9. ^ Scott Newman (2005-06-14). "MMA Review: #54: UFC 5: Return of the Beast". The Oratory. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  10. ^ a b c Scott Newman (2005-06-16). "MMA Review: #55: UFC 6: Clash of the Titans". The Oratory. Archived from the original on 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Robin Postell, Robert W. Young, Go for the Legs! Throughout his Life, Sambo Expert Oleg Taktarov Has Sworn by Leg Locks - Part 2, Black Belt magazine, May 1999
  12. ^ Scott Newman (2005-12-07). "MMA Review: #67: UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo". The Oratory. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  13. ^ Scott Newman (June 8, 2007). "MMA Review: #130: UFC: Ultimate Ultimate". The Oratory. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  14. ^ "Show "King of the Ring": If the stars are fighting, then this is necessary. Boxing with stars starts in Russia Tactical and technical characteristics of fighters". dynamotickets.ru. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  15. ^ Episode 9 Archived 2008-02-28 at the Wayback Machine, American Sambo Association - Sambocast Radio Archived 2007-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Oleg Taktarov exclusive interview
  17. ^ IMDb
  18. ^ IMDb
  19. ^ "Russian Martial Art". Systema Vasiliev. Russian Martial Art. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  20. ^ "UFC 45: Revolution". Fight Times Magazine. 8 March 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  21. ^ Inside Wrestling, September 1995 issue, article: "UFC/NWA champ Dan Severn proves wrestlers are the toughest athletes in the world!", p.32.
[edit]
Preceded by UFC 6 Tournament winner
July 14, 1995 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oleg_Taktarov&oldid=1253560612"