Fighters Only

Issue 063

June 2010

As with many of his countrymen, Oleg Taktarov possesses a stare that looks as though it could punch two holes in the side of a tank. The Russian gaze is a juxtaposition of intense calmness and ice-cold aggression – the ultimate poker face.

Most of the competitors in the early UFCs were outspoken characters ready to run their mouths and talk about how tough they were; they were larger-than-life brawlers and black belts with something to prove. David ‘Tank’ Abbott was one of them, a huge beer-bellied, anvil-handed ape of a man with a bar-fighter’s sneer and a reputation for leaving opponents in a twisted, twitching heap.

At UFC 6 Tank came up against a brick wall in the form of Oleg Taktarov. In the finals of the one night, open weight tournament, the two polar opposites clashed. Tank was swinging lefts and rights like wrecking balls. Oleg, the sambo and judo-trained all-rounder, demonstrated sound boxing skill in between takedowns and ground attacks. The fight lasted almost 18 minutes,and some say it was one of the greatest fights ever.

In the last few minutes the exhausted Tank and Oleg tussled on the ground. The crowd were on their collective feet, and at that point in MMA history it was still very much style against style, with the ‘mysterious’ and newly popular ground-fighters having the ability to submit their opponents at any time.

The crowd had a vague appreciation of this fact and were excited because they knew Oleg, the ‘ground fighter’, was dangerous. Oleg sank in a guillotine and the fighters fell to the floor. Tank escaped, but Oleg transitioned to his back and locked in a rear naked choke and finished Tank off. Both fighters collapsed in the thin air of Casper, Wyoming, to deafening cheers. It was a dramatic conclusion to a classic early UFC.

Becoming the UFC tournament champion was only a stepping stone in Oleg’s grand plan. “I came to the United States in November 1994 because I had the dream of becoming an actor,” Oleg recalls of his journey to America. He barely spoke a word of English, and the only skills he had were those picked up from years of sambo (a Russian martial art fusing judo, wrestling and jiu-jitsu) and judo training. He wasn’t just a skilled practitioner; he was a two-time world sambo champion and four-time Asian and European jiu-jitsu champion. It’s no surprise that the young Russian found his way to the UFC. “The path to becoming an actor was first becoming a UFC champion,” he says with a calmness that belies the difficulty of this task.

That path began in Russia, in early no-holds-barred matches against practitioners of other styles, in front of baying crowds. When Royce Gracie was winning the first UFC, Oleg was fighting in an event called White Dragon in his homeland. A year later he was in America and fighting at UFC 5. It took him only two minutes to choke out his first opponent, and then he ran into Dan ‘The Beast’ Severn, a gigantic and powerful wrestler who was just hitting his stride in the UFC. The bout was stopped due to a cut, but Oleg returned just three months later at UFC 6 to take home the check and the tournament crown.

As the champion, Oleg was selected to fight Ken Shamrock at the following UFC. The two, who were training partners at the time, battled it out to a less-than-exciting 30-minute draw. Oleg’s next appearance would be at the Ultimate Ultimate in 1995. The UFC pulled out all the stops and invited previous tournament champions and finalists and waved a $150,000 check at them. The Russian again made it to the finals but came up short against Dan Severn in a stalemate of a fight.

Pride FC requested Oleg appear for their legendary first show in Japan. Taktarov, his position as a fighter now waning, lost by a brutal knockout at the hands of Canadian power puncher Gary Goodridge and lay unconscious for four minutes. At this point, with perhaps his finest MMA performances behind him, Oleg put phase two of his plan into action and made the transition into acting. Starting with minor parts in Air Force One and 15 Minutes (where he apparently swapped fight scene advice for acting tips with Robert De Niro), he has gradually progressed into larger and more rewarding roles. Taktarov has a best-selling autobiography (Up To The Top) and a hugely popular TV drama (The Guardian) in his native Russia, and will also star alongside Adrian Brody in the upcoming Predator sequel, Predators.

Oleg is still a fierce competitor and has released a number of Russian martial art instructionals. “I’m always training my judo. I haven’t lost a point in judo and I beat all the top guys.” He also made a successful return to the ring in recent years, beating John Marsh and then former UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr by kneebar in 2008. The sambo expert’s last four fights have all been wins by kneebar.

Oleg Taktarov’s countryman, Fedor Emelianenko, was nicknamed ‘The Last Emperor’ by the Japanese fight media, but, for fans who remember the early UFCs, Oleg Taktarov will always be The First Emperor.