Oleg Taktarov
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| Oleg Taktarov | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 26, 1967 Sarov, Russia |
| Other names | The Russian Bear |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 95 kg (210 lb; 15.0 st) |
| Style | Sambo, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, |
| MMA record | |
| Total | 23 |
| Wins | 16 |
| By knockout | 1 |
| By submission | 9 |
| Losses | 5 |
| Draws | 2 |
Oleg Nikolaevich Taktarov (Russian: Олег Николаевич Тактаров; born August 26, 1967) is a Russian mixed martial artist and actor. He is a practitioner of Sambo, Krav Maga and Judo and has competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championship. Taktarov was the UFC 6 tournament champion and holds notable wins over Marco Ruas and David "Tank" Abbott. Taktarov is known for being exceptionally calm during fights and for using a variety of rarely seen, acrobatic Sambo take-downs. Taktarov has never been submitted in a MMA fight.
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[edit] Biography
He was born in present-day Sarov, Russia. Between UFC 5 and UFC 6 (where he won the tournament, beating David "Tank" Abbott in the finals), Taktarov lived and trained with Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den fighting team.[1] Taktarov started his American training with Gene LeBell, Jovany Varela and Gokor Chivichyan.
[edit] UFC career
Takatarov entered the UFC 5 tournament, losing to eventual champion Dan Severn by TKO. The fight was stopped by the referee because of profuse bleeding above Taktarov's eye due to a cut caused by knees from Severn while Oleg was seeking an armbar from the guard.
Taktarov returned at UFC 6 where, in the semifinal bout, Anthony Macias was brought in to replace Patrick Smith due to injury. The fight ended in 12 seconds with Taktarov submitting Macias via front choke becoming the fastest submission in UFC history.[2] Taktarov went on to defeat David "Tank" Abbott by rear naked choke to win the UFC 6 tournament.
Taktarov, being the reigning tournament champion, was set up to fight his friend and reigning UFC Champion Ken Shamrock in UFC 7 for the Superfight title. The fight had a 30 minute time limit and went into three minutes of overtime, finishing as a draw at 33 minutes.
[edit] Other fights
Taktarov fought in the first ever PRIDE 1 show on Oct 11, 1997 facing Canadian heavyweight and UFC veteran Gary Goodridge. Unfortunately for Oleg, he suffered a frightening knockout loss. After being knocked on conscious, the hulking 'Big Daddy' landed a scary right hook on the prone Taktarov. Oleg had to be carried out on a stretcher. He later fully recovered.
Perhaps the most famous non-UFC fight of his MMA career is when he faced Renzo Gracie in the MARS Reality Fighting event. The anticipated ground battle never took off and he lost by KO by an up kick as he was looking for a leg submission.
Oleg faced his rival Marco Ruas once again in Brazil in a super fight at the World Vale Tudo Championships. It was agreed that there would be no judges for this bout, and when time ran out, it was ruled a draw.
Oleg also faced Brazilian Jiu-jitsu expert Sean Alvarez in Pentagon Combat an event held in Brazil. Wearing boxing trunks, he displayed boxing skills by knocking out his opponent.
In Russia, for a specialized event Oleg faced Dolph Lundgren in a celebrity boxing match.
[edit] Acting career
After temporarily retiring from mixed martial arts, Taktarov focused on his acting career, and starred in the movies 15 Minutes, Bad Boys II, 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out, Air Force One, and the 2002 version of Rollerball. He also appeared in the first episode of season 3 of Alias entitled The Two [3] 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.[4] Taktarov also released several instructional Sambo videos and has made an instructional video with Vladimir Vasiliev entitled Russian Mega Fighting.[5] More recently, Taktarov fought an exihibition boxing match on Russian Celebrity Boxing against fellow actor and martial artist Dolph Lundgren.[6]
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Total Force | Boris |
| 1997 | Absolute Force | Agent Borris Checkniov |
| 1997 | Air Force One | Prison Guard #2 |
| 2001 | 15 Minutes | Oleg Razgul |
| 2001 | My Friend's Love Affair | Boris |
| 2001 | The Quickie | Boris |
| 2002 | Red Serpent | Sergei |
| 2002 | Rollerball | Denekin |
| 2003 | Bad Boys II | Josef |
| 2003 | 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out | Emil Matasareanu |
| 2004 | National Treasure | Shippen |
| 2005 | Zovi Menya Dzhinn | Ufa |
| 2005 | Muzhskoy Sezon. Barkhatnaya Revolyutsiya | Skala |
| 2006 | Sdvig | Fetisov |
| 2006 | Miami Vice | Russian Security |
| 2007 | We Own the Night | Pavel Lubyarsky |
| 2007 | The Death and Life of Bobby Z | Oleg |
| 2007 | Rockaway | Ivan |
| 2008 | Montana | Nikolai |
| 2008 | NCIS | Viggo Dratnyev |
| 2008 | Righteous Kill | Yevgeny Mugalat |
| 2010 | Predators | Nikolai |
[edit] Return to mixed martial arts
Prior to making a successful comeback to the sport in 2007, Taktarov's last bout was in 1998. Taktarov announced in an online radio interview in November 2007 his plans to return to MMA with BodogFIGHT.[7] He won his debut match against John Marsh at 33 seconds into the 2nd round of the match by submission (kneebar). He then fought UFC 14 and UFC 15 heavyweight champion Mark Kerr, again winning by kneebar.
[edit] MMA record
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win |  Mark Kerr |
Submission (kneebar) | YAMMA Pit Fighting | 2008-04-11 | 1 1:55 | |
| Win | John Marsh |
Submission (kneebar) | BodogFIGHT: USA vs. Russia | 2007-11-30 | 2 0:33 | |
| Win | Moti Horenstein |
Submission (kneebar) | National Freesparring | 1998-02-21 | N/A | |
| Win | Mick Tierney |
Submission (kneebar) | National Freesparring | 1998-02-21 | N/A | |
| Loss |  Gary Goodridge |
KO | PRIDE 1 | 1997-10-11 | 1 4:57 | |
| Win | Sean Alvarez |
KO (punches) | Pentagon Combat | 1997-09-27 | 1 0:52 | |
| Win | Chuck Kim |
Submission (guillotine choke) | World Fighting Federation | 1997-02-14 | 1 0:23 | |
| Loss |  Renzo Gracie |
KO (kick and punch) | Martial Arts Reality Superfighting | 1996-11-22 | 1 1:02 | |
| Draw | Marco Ruas |
Draw | World Vale Tudo Championship 2 | 1996-11-10 | 1 31:12 | |
| Win | Joe Charles |
Submission (kneebar) | World Vale Tudo Championship 1 | 1996-08-14 | 1 4:42 | |
| Loss |  Ryushi Yanagisawa |
Decision (Lost Points) | Pancrase: Truth 5 | 1996-05-16 | 1 15:00 | |
| Loss | Dan Severn |
Decision (Unanimous) | Ultimate Ultimate 1995 | 1995-12-16 | 1 30:00 | |
| Win | Marco Ruas |
Decision (Unanimous) | Ultimate Ultimate 1995 | 1995-12-16 | 1 18:00 | |
| Win | Dave Beneteau |
Submission (Achilles Lock) | Ultimate Ultimate 1995 | 1995-12-16 | 1 1:15 | |
| Draw | Ken Shamrock |
Draw | UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo | 1995-09-08 | 1 33:00 | For UFC Superfight title |
| Win | David "Tank" Abbott |
Submission (rear naked choke) | UFC 6: Clash of the Titans | 1995-07-14 | 1 17:45 | Won UFC 6 Tournament |
| Win | Anthony Macias |
Submission (guillotine choke) | UFC 6: Clash of the Titans | 1995-07-14 | 1 0:09 | |
| Win | Dave Beneteau |
Submission (Front Choke) | UFC 6: Clash of the Titans | 1995-07-14 | 1 0:57 | |
| Loss | Dan Severn |
TKO (Cut) | UFC 5: The Return of the Beast | 1995-04-07 | 1 4:21 | |
| Win | Ernie Verdicia |
Submission (Choke) | UFC 5: The Return of the Beast | 1995-04-07 | 1 2:23 | |
| Win |  Maxim Kuzin |
Submission (Choke) | White Dragon: Day Three | 1993-10-23 | 1 1:11 | |
| Win | Artur Almaev |
TKO (Corner stoppage) | White Dragon: Day Two | 1993-10-22 | 1 4:25 | |
| Win |  Vaskas Hilma |
Submission (Choke) | White Dragon: Day Two | 1993-10-22 | 1 0:24 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Previous winner Dan Severn |
UFC 6 Tournament winner |
Next winner Marco Ruas |
