Sergei Kharitonov

Template:MMAstatsbox Sergei Kharitonov (Russian: Сергей Харитонов, Sergey Haritonov, Russian pronunciation: [s̺ʲɛr̠ˈgɛj xar̪ʲiˈtonəf]) (born August 18 , 1980) is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial arts. He has previously fought in Japanese MMA organization PRIDE Fighting Championships, and is now scheduled to fight for DREAM.

Biography

Sergei Kharitonov was born on August 18, 1980 in Arkhangelsk, Russia. His parents were very athletic: Sergei's mother was a volleyball coach, and his father at various times studied boxing, skating, soccer, and long distance marathon running. Under their influence, Sergei was very active physically while growing up.

Kharitonov graduated from a high school with a specialization in music (accordion). Following the advice of his parents as well as his own dreams, Sergei went to the Airborne troops academy in Ryazan, Russia, and enlisting in the Russian Airborne Troops after finishing the academy. Kharitonov credits the army and the academy with giving him psychological skills he relies on during his fights.

Sergei remains on the active duty while training full time with the Russian Top Team. He is married to his wife, Natalia.^[1]

Sergei is supposedly having a feud with Fedor Emelianenko after Fedor transferred from Russian Top Team to Red Devil Sport Club, and Kharitonov decided to stay with RTT.

Kharitonov sometimes gets confused with his full namesake Sergey Haritonov, a much less prominent mixed martial arts fighter from Estonia.

Martial arts background and training regimen

Sergei started being interested in sports when he was still in kindergarten, being taught at first by his father. Kharitonov started training boxing seriously when he was ten or eleven years old, following an incident when a drunken adult passer-by broke up a scuffle between Sergei and another boy by lifting Sergei in the air, hitting him in the face and cutting his eyebrow with that punch. The man justified his behavior by saying that Sergei should not have been hitting a grounded opponent.^[2]

At the age of sixteen, Kharitonov started studying Combat Sambo. During his studies in the Airborne Troops Academy, Sergei started competing in hand-to-hand combat (simplified form of Combat Sambo) and MMA. After Kharitonov graduated from the Academy, he was contacted by Vladimir Pogodin, the manager of the Russian Top Team, who invited him to join the club. At first, Sergei was invited to be Fedor Emelianenko's sparring partner, who taught him many ground fighting techniques, including striking on the ground and submissions. Sergei kept competing at various Russian MMA competitions, and in October 2003 he debuted in PRIDE Fighting Championships, one of the top two leading MMA organizations in the world.

Sergei trains with the Russian national boxing and Sambo teams, as well as some freestyle wrestlers. He also recently added Muay Thai training to his regimen, and, according to him, he even borrows some elements from karate.^[2]

Sergei Kharitonov trained in Kirieevsk, Russia, under coach Mikhail Ilyukhin (Russian: Михаил Илюхин). Ilyukhin chose Kirieevsk as their training base due to a large number of heavyweight MMA fighters available there. According to him, key elements of Sergei's success are his willpower and unpredicability in the ring. As of September 2007 he recently began training with the Golden Glory fight team in Holland.

In addition to competing in MMA and boxing, Sergei competes in Combat Sambo for the Ryazan Desantnik (Paratrooper) club.^[1]

Boxing

Sergei started his Amateur Boxing Career in 2000. He tried to get into the Russian Olympic Boxing team but got injured in the semi finals during a live boxing TV event. Instead he competed for Tajikistan in 2003 at the Central Asian Games where he won a silver medal ^[3]. Kharitonov earned a shot at that year’s Olympics, representing former Tajikistan (the former Soviet republics often have ethnic Russians on their teams) but passed on the chance to instead fight in the Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix.

In the fall of 2004 he competed in the Russian Boxing Championship and placed second. Sergei could not fight in the final match due to an injury.^[2]

PRIDE

Sergei had a successful career as a heavyweight fighter in the PRIDE Fighting Championship, with an overall PRIDE record of 8-3-0. As of late 2005, Kharitonov has struggled with ongoing injuries to his upper back and shoulders, evident in his victory against Fabricio Werdum, in which his right shoulder was strained and injured nearly a minute into the bout, and in his loss to Alistair Overeem, where an awkward fall dislocated his shoulder.

Kharitonov lost to Aleksander Emelianenko at PRIDE's Final Conflict Absolute 2006 on Sept 9 2006.

Kharitonov scored a win against Mike Russow at PRIDE 33 in Las Vegas on February 24.[1]

K-1 HERO's

On September 17, 2007, Kharitonov knocked out Alistair Overeem in the first round in the K-1 HERO's event, subsequently avenging a previous loss.

DREAM

Kharitonov's next fight was scheduled to be against Mighty Mo at DREAM.6 on September 23, 2008.^[4] However Mighty Mo was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. Jimmy Ambriz will be Mighty Mo's replacement. Sergei scored a win in the first round by submission via strikes.

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
19 matches	16 wins	3 losses
By knockout	7	2
By submission	7	0
By decision	1	1

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	Jimmy Ambriz	Submission (Punches)	DREAM.6	September 23, 2008	1	2:15	Saitama, Japan
Win	Alistair Overeem	TKO (Strikes)	K-1 HERO's - Middleweight GP Final	September 17, 2007	1	4:41	Yokohama, Japan
Win	Michael Russow	Submission (Armbar)	PRIDE 33 - The Second Coming	February 24, 2007	1	3:46	Las Vegas, Nevada
Loss	Aleksander Emelianenko	TKO (Strikes)	PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute	September 10, 2006	1	6:45	Saitama, Japan
Loss	Alistair Overeem	TKO (Knees)	PRIDE 31 - Dreamers	February 26, 2006	1	5:13	Saitama, Japan
Win	Fabricio Werdum	Decision (Split)	PRIDE 30 - Fully Loaded	October 23, 2005	3	5:00	Saitama, Japan
Win	Peter Mulder	Submission (Armbar)	Rings - Lithuania	August 20, 2005	1		Lithuania
Win	Pedro Rizzo	TKO (Strikes)	PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005	June 26, 2005	1	2:02	Saitama, Japan
Win	Mu Bae Choi	KO (Punches)	PRIDE 29 - Fists Of Fire	June 26, 2005	1	3:24	Saitama, Japan
Loss	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	Decision (Unanimous)	PRIDE Final Conflict 2004	August 15, 2004	2	5:00	Saitama, Japan	PRIDE GP 2004 Semifinals
Win	Semmy Schilt	TKO (Punches)	PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004	June 20, 2004	1	9:19	Saitama, Japan	PRIDE GP 2004 Quarterfinals
Win	Murilo Rua	KO (Punches)	PRIDE Total Elimination 2004	April 25, 2004	1	4:14	Saitama, Japan	PRIDE GP 2004 Opening Round
Win	Cory Peterson	Submission (Armbar)	PRIDE 27 - Inferno	February 1, 2004	1	1:23	Osaka, Japan
Win	Jason Suttie	Submission (Armbar)	PRIDE Bushido 1	october 5, 2003	1	2:25	Saitama, Japan
Win	David Shvelidze	Submission	TORM 8 - Tournament of Real Men 8	February 20, 2003	1	1:00	Ekaterinburg, Russia
Win	Osmanli Vagabov	Submission	TORM 8 - Tournament of Real Men 8	February 20, 2003	1	0:47	Ekaterinburg, Russia
Win	Roman Savochka	TKO (Hand Injury)	Brilliant 2 - Yalta's Brilliant 2000	August 11, 2000	1	3:11	Yalta, Ukraine
Win	Viacheslav Kolesnik	TKO (Punch)	Brilliant 2 - Yalta's Brilliant 2000	August 11, 2000	1	1:26	Yalta, Ukraine
Win	Zamir Syrgabayev	Submission (Strikes)	Brilliant 2 - Yalta's Brilliant 2000	August 11, 2000	1	2:43	Yalta, Ukraine