A long time before a certain Fedor Emelianenko made his name as one of the most feared in the world, there has already been a Russian sambo-combatant, who caused furore on the international MMA scene, Oleg Taktarov. A multitude of submission-holds, fantastic condition and maybe the most acrobatic takedowns and judo throws of all times made "The Russian Bear" a very dangerous competitor.
Oleg Taktarov was born on August, 26 of 1967, in Gorky, Russia in the family of a military man.
How it all began.
In 1994 the former member of the soviet army special unit "Spetsnaz" entered without a Green Card and the ability to speak english the United States of America, to follow his dream of acting. To earn the money he needed so badly and in order to gain the popularity, former KGB Martial Arts instructor decided to return to his roots and things he could do the best and participated in some of the first UFC tournaments.
He made his debut on April, 7th of 1995 at UFC 5: The Return of the Beast, only 27 years old Taktarov reached the semi-finals, but had to surrender due to a cut by the hand of the future winner, Dan Severn. To Taktarov’s credit, he wanted to continue the fight in spite of the bleeding.
Already three months later he had his first big success, as he defeated the 40 pound heavier wrestler Dave Beneteau, Muay Thai Boxer Anthony Macias and the legendary bar-room-brawler David "Tank" Abbott at the same night to win the UFC 6 tournament.
His fights with "Tank" Abbott and Dan Severn in 1995 are well-known. Taktarov won against Abbott, but could not stand on his own feet when it ended ( the elevation of the contest left both fighters exhausted due to the oxygen deprivation ). He lost to Severn in one of the bloodier fights the UFC had seen in those early days.
After UFC 5 / 6 and the super fight with Ken Shamrock he had rounded his great year with the entering the final round of the UFC: Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tournament. Later on "The Russian Bear" fought all over the world, amongst others in Japan (Pancrase, Mars), the United States of America (World Fighting Federation), Brazil (World Vale Tudo Championship) and also in Kazakhstan (National Freesparring) with shuffled results.
The highlight of his career outside the UFC, was surely the participation in the inaugural PRIDE event in October of 1997 but he lost this super fight against another former UFC-veteran, Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge via a tough knockout.
In spite of his five career defeats, many fans and experts still agreed, Taktarov also would've defeat the legendary Royce Gracie in a possible encounter due to his experiance in ground combat and his bigger athleticism.
Prior to 2007 when he made his successful comeback to the sport of MMA, Taktarov's last bout was in far 1998. Taktarov's MMA record is 15-5-2 and he has never tapped or been submitted in a MMA match. Oleg is remembered for being very calm during fights and for using a variety of rarely seen, acrobatic takedown moves. He usually finished bouts with a submission hold.
After the end of his active career, Oleg had the chance to follow his big passion, the acting. With his role in "15 Minutes of Fame" as a manic serial killer to the side of Robert de Niro provided him the "breakthrough" in Hollywood, since then he co-operated in scores of blockbusters such as Rollerball (2002), cameos in Bad Boys II (2003) and Miami Vice (2006).
In 2007 he played a role of color commentator during M-1: Russia vs Europe event. Taktarov was considered by Russian viewers as one of the worst commentators due to his excessive egocentric and distracting comments about anything but the fights themselves.
At the moment Taktarov partakes in an International movie project “Montana”. The plot tells us about two friends pursuing their perennial dream. Being kids and watching westerns, they decided to get to Montana – state of cowboys and beautiful Indian girls by any means necessary. As the years pass by one of them (namely Taktarov) still chases this dream.
Taktarov about ‘Montana’: “When I left for America I thought Hollywood is something supernatural and wonderful, the dream turned out to be far from reality though. The same happens to the guy I play as his fabolous Montana turns out to be a fragile illusion. As for the personage I play, well, actually he’s looking for a true love. Whether he’ll find it – you watch it.”
“Montana’ is set to be released on February, 7 2008. Official site: montanathefilm.ru
Some of Taktarov's fights are considered controversial.
Takatarov's fight against Severn was stopped by the referee because of profuse bleeding above Taktarov's eye due to a cut caused bythe knees from Dan "The Beast" 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 prior to the stoppage. Taktarov also claimed that Severn had a rest advantage of one hour.
In the semifinal bout, Anthony Macias was brought in to replace Patrick Smith due to an injury. The fight ended in 9 seconds with Taktarov submitting Macias in a front choke. Because both Macias and Taktarov were from the Shamrock’s camp and the fight ended quickly, personal speculation from the live commentator was that he "couldn't help but wonder".
Taktarov, being champion of UFC 6 was set up to fight Shamrock in UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo 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. On the DVD UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo Oleg stated that he had no interest in actually defeating Ken and was fighting for a draw. He states that he was looking forward to the upcoming UFC: Ultimate Ultimate. Shamrock, however, had similar prolonged fights; his fight against Royce Gracie at the UFC 5: The Return of the Beast.
Superfight went for 36 minutes in a similar manner and resulted in a draw, and his fight against Dan Severn went to overtime after excessive circling around which led to a lackluster ‘clash’.
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