Oleg Taktarov

Oleg Taktarov (June 25, 1968) is a Russian martial artist. He is a practitioner of Sambo and Judo and has competed in mixed martial arts in the UFC and PRIDE. Taktarov last fought a professional MMA match in 1998. Taktarov's MMA record from 1995 to 1998 was 11-5-2. He never tapped or was submitted in a MMA match.

Taktarov is remembered for being calm during fights and for using a variety of rarely seen, acrobatic take-down moves. He usually finished bouts with a submission hold.

Between UFC 5 (where he lost to Dan Severn) and UFC 6 (where he won the tournament, beating "Tank" Abbott in the finals), Taktarov lived and trained with Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den fighting team.[1] This resulted in neither man being happy when they (Taktarov and Shamrock) fought each other to a draw at UFC 7 in the SuperFight.[2]

His fights with "Tank" Abbott and Dan Severn in 1995 are well-known. Taktarov won against Abbott, but could not stand on his own when it ended (the elevation of the contest left both fighters exhausted due to oxygen depravation). He lost to Severn in one of the bloodier fights the UFC had seen in those early days (see also controversies for more on that fight).

After retiring from mixed martial arts, Taktarov focussed on his acting career, and starred in the movies 15 Minutes, Bad Boys II and the 2002 version of Rollerball.

Taktarov also released several instructional Sambo videos and also made an instructional video with Vladimir Vasiliev entitled Russian Mega Fighting.

Controversies

There are a few controversies and rumors surrounding Taktarov's fights, most of which are just the opinion of one party or another and are not based on any factual evidence.

UFC 5

Takatarov's fight against Severn was stopped by the referee because of profuse bleeding above Taktarov's eye due to a cut caused by knees from Severn. Taktarov did not want to give up the fight and did have Severn in a position for a potential arm lock at the time. Taktarov also claims on his website that Severn had a rest advantage of one hour.

UFC 6

In the semifinal bout, Anthony Macias was brought in to replace Patrick Smith due to injury. The fight ended in 9 seconds with Taktarov submitting Macias in a front choke. Because both Macias and Taktarov were from the Shamrock camp and the fight ended quickly, personal speculation from the live commentator was that he "couldn't help but wonder (if the fight was rigged)". While it is odd that Macias, a kickboxer would try to shoot on an expert grappler, it is possible he was hoping to surprise Taktarov with ground-and-pound tactics. Also, it was unlikely it was a set up considering Taktarov went in ready and willing to fight and was expecting Smith as his opponent, not Macias.

UFC 7, Superfight

Taktarov, being champion of UFC 6 was set up to fight Shamrock in UFC 7 for the Superfight title. At the time Shamrock was acting as Taktarov's business manager and was pivotal in getting the Russian fights in Japan.^{[citation needed]} Some believe Shamrock did not want to hurt Taktarov in the Super Fight, because it would result in him not being able to fight later on, which in turn meant Shamrock would be out-of-pocket.^{[citation needed]}

The fight had a 30 minute time limit and went into 3 minutes of overtime; finishing as a draw at 33 minutes.

Some critics call the fight boring and charge that neither fighters were trying. Some speculate Taktarov did not want the fight because after spending so much time with each other and training with each other for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, they were both too familiar with each others moves, meaning both men knew what to expect from the other to a level where neither could do anything.^{[citation needed]} However, many who have watched the fight closely and are familiar with submission fighting disagree and consider the fight one of the greats of the early UFCs.

Also, Shamrock's fight against Royce Gracie at the UFC 5 Superfight went for 36 minutes in a similar manner and resulted in a draw, and no controversy surrounds that fight.

MMA titles

MMA record

See also

• List of male mixed martial artists

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