Early life

Taktarov was born in the closed city Arzamas-16 (today known as Sarov), USSR, before his family moved to Gorky, an industrial centre of Russia. Oleg’s father, a construction worker, wanted his son to become involved in sport, and so took him to a gymnasium at the nearby city of Sarov, with the intention of enrolling Oleg in ice hockey or weightlifting. But the twelve-year-old Taktarov had other ideas after observing athletes practicing judo. At first it appeared his father would have his way because the Sarov judo division had a policy of not accepting people from outside their city, but the instructor was impressed by the bright and well-mannered Oleg, and took him under his wing. "I liked judo and stuck with it. Then I found that there were similarities between judo and sambo (Russian unarmed self-defense system), and as Sarov was the only Sambo gymnasium specializing in leg locks, I decided to compete in both styles," says Taktarov.

Surprisingly, the intelligent and soft-spoken Oleg intended becoming a scientist. He hadn’t planned to make a career of grappling. But in the former Soviet Union it was mandatory for all male youths to serve a minimum of two years in the military. Prior to entering the army, Taktarov competed against two men - one, his training partner - for a place in the military’s sporting division. During the last bout, his adversary applied an ankle lock to Oleg. "He had a good lock on my ankle, and I heard the ligaments pop, but I couldn’t submit because the competition was too important to me. There were two other guys in my weight category and only one position in the army’s sport division, so I had to win. I threw him and he fell on his head and couldn’t continue," says Taktarov. Oleg went on to serve his time as a self-defense instructor, which included training an elite sector of the KGB in unarmed combat and counter-intelligence for three years. During this period Oleg suffered severe stomach pains and reported to his superior officer. The officer ignored Oleg’s plea for medical attention and ordered him back on duty. "He was the kind of guy who shouldn’t have been there," understates a cool Taktarov. The young soldier decided to go AWOL and travelled to a nearby hospital where a doctor successfully removed Oleg’s appendix, informing his patient that he would have died if he’d waited another fifteen minutes.

After completing his national service, Oleg traveled with another martial artist to the Republic of Latvia for a no-rules tournament. "My friend and I were at a car yard and he was going to buy a car. The Latvian special police didn’t like us because we were speaking Russian, and decided to throw us in gaol. But some of the organizers were looking for us, and luckily they found us, so we were released fifteen minutes before the competition started, which meant we had no time to warm up." Fortunately this did not stop Taktarov from becoming the tournament champion. Four times Oleg won the European and Asian Ju-Jitsu Championships, and twice won the World Sambo Championships.

"At the age of twenty-six I was undefeated and had won everything I could at the time. So I traveled to the United States with the intention of becoming an actor, but I found that it wasn’t easy to get started in the movies, so I decided to fight because I had to think about an income and improving my English." Oleg also commenced working in theaters to improve his acting skills.

Mixed martial arts career

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On November 12, 1993, the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was held in Denver, Colorado, where fighters from all martial arts codes were invited to compete for a purse of US$50,000, in a no-holds-barred elimination tournament billed as being, "not for the faint-hearted". The show-down was held inside the eight-sided ring, known as The Octagon, that measures 32 feet across, and is surrounded by a five-foot-high chain fence.

In April, 1995, Oleg entered UFC 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, billed as "The Russian Bear". "It (the title) sounds alright to me now, but before.....I was called this by the manager I had then, who was from Texas. He thought that Texas was the capital of the world," laughs Oleg. "He didn’t know any other places existed. He just knew that Russia had bears and vodka, and he couldn’t call me ‘The Russian Vodka’." When Oleg entered UFC 5 he was regarded by the organizers as "The X-Factor". His friend and Lion's Den fighter, Guy Mezger, had spoken highly of Taktarov, but the Russian was an unknown quantity. Before the tournament, competitors were interviewed pulling macho faces and growling, whilst boasting how they were going to win the event and destroy their opponents. By contrast, Oleg coolly said he was from Gorky, Russia, and smiled an infectious smile at the cameras. Held in Charlotte, North Carolina, the competition claimed to have eight contenders representing eight different martial arts, but as Royce Gracie had previously stated, many of the UFC competitors were now abandoning their own arts to copy his grappling techniques. The fact that a fighter was listed as representing the art of Tae Kwon Do did not mean he would be using TKD striking techniques against his opponent.

In UFC 5, the program had Oleg Taktarov listed as representing the Russian discipline of Sambo. "At first I was kind of disappointed because in Russia they would have regarded me as a ju-jitsu exponent because it was a new art I was practicing back there, whereas many people were already doing judo and sambo in Russia. Here in America, people categorized me as a sambo artist because it was unique and unusual, and that’s what they liked. But I don’t mind now," says Taktarov.

Between UFC 5 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. Taktarov started his American training with Gene LeBell and Gokor Chivichyan.

Despite badly injuring his knee in training shortly before the event, Takatarov entered the UFC 5 tournament. He firstly faced karate expert Ernie Verdicia, winning by pulling guard, sweeping and performing an arm triangle choke. Oleg would then advance round, but he was defeated by eventual tournament winner Dan Severn, who passed his guard and landed knees to the head and headbutts for the doctor stoppage. After losing at UFC 5, Taktarov went to live and train with his friend Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den training camp. Taktarov talked about his experience in an interview: "For a month Ken and I fought together. The guys who later became good fighters, like Frank Shamrock or Guy Mezger, were not any competition for me at the time. The only guy I trained with was Ken, and we had battles behind closed doors. Nobody was allowed to watch them."

Taktarov returned at UFC 6, whose first round saw him eliminating Dave Beneteau via guillotine choke in a scrambling match. Later, in the semifinal bout, Anthony Macias was brought in to replace Patrick Smith due to injury, and the fight ended in 9 seconds with Taktarov submitting Macias by another guillotine choke becoming the fastest submission in UFC history. Taktarov went to the main event of the night, facing the much larger Tank Abbott in 17 grueling minutes. Abbott dominated thanks to his takedown defense and striking skill, landing numerous punches through the match, while Taktarov remained patient and counterattacked with submission attempts; finally, when both fighters looked devoid of energy, Taktarov locked a rear naked choke for the tournament victory. Taktarov displayed incredible heart and willpower during the fight and had to be taken to the hospital afterwards with an oxygen mask on due to the high altitude of Casper, Wyoming.

Well respected by Bob and Ken Shamrock, Taktarov, being the reigning tournament champion, was set up to fight his friend and reigning UFC Champion Ken Shamrock in UFC 7 for the UFC Superfight Championship. Taktarov again displayed an incredible amount of heart in this fight, taking a lot of punishment but refusing to quit. The fight had a 30-minute time limit and went into three minutes of overtime, finishing as a draw at 33 minutes.

Taktarov then entered the UFC's Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tournament. He defeated Dave Beneteau again, this time via leglock, and went to face luta livre exponent and highly regarded UFC 7 champion Marco Ruas. The match was lengthy and slow, with Taktarov trying repeteadly to take Ruas to the ground while the Brazilian caused damage with strikes and made Oleg bleed. After the time went out, however, Taktarov won the decision for his superior aggression during the match. He lastly met Dan Severn in the finals in a rematch of their fight at UFC 5. After 30 minutes the judges awarded Dan Severn a decision victory based on points scored during the bout.

On November 21, 2003, at UFC 45, the UFC conducted a poll amongst the fans to determine the most popular fighters in the history of the UFC. The fans voted Oleg as one of the top 10 most popular fighters in the history of the UFC.

Post-UFC

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 unconscious, 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. In one of his recent interviews he attributed Goodridge's victory to the peak of the anabolic steroid cycle that Goodridge allegedly went through prior to the fight. Taktarov further asserted that Goodridge's following performances (i.e. a string of losses) clearly indicated the downtrend of the steroid cycle.

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 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 and won via split decision.

Return to mixed martial arts

Prior to making a successful comeback to the sport in 2007, Taktarov's last bout was in 2001. Taktarov announced in an online radio interview in November 2007 his plans to return to MMA with BodogFight. 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.

Taktarov is now retired from mixed martial arts.

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 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. Taktarov also released several instructional Sambo videos and has made an instructional video with Vladimir Vasiliev entitled Russian Mega Fighting. Taktarov more recently starred in Robert Rodriguez's franchise reboot, Predators, directed by Nimród Antal.

Filmography

Year	Movie	Role
1997	Total Force	Boris
1997	Absolute Force	Agent Boris Checkniov
1997	JAG	Russian Officer
1997	Air Force One	Prison Guard #2
1999	Counter Measures	Dmitry
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 Kuninskavich
2003	44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out	Emil Matasareanu
2003	Alias	Gordei Volkov
2004	Sins of the Fathers (rus. Грехи отцов)	Jerome Thompson
2004	National Treasure	Shippen
2005	Call me Genee (rus. Зови меня Джинн)	Ufa
2005	Law of Corruption (rus. Мужской сезон. Бархатная революция)	Skala
2005	To Hunt an Elk (rus. Охота на изюбря)	Kamaz
2006	Shift (rus. Сдвиг)	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
2011	Generation P	Vovchik
2011	Battlefield 3	Dmitri "Dima" Mayakovsky
2013	Officer Down	Oleg Emelyanenko
2013	Viy	Gritsko

Championships and accomplishments

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC 6 Tournament Champion
  • Ultimate Ultimate 1995 Runner Up
  • UFC 5 Tournament Semi-Finalist
  • UFC Viewer's Choice Award
  • 1994 Iron Gladiators Competition winner (twice)

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
24 matches	17 wins	5 losses
By knockout	2	3
By submission	14	0
By decision	1	2
Draws	2

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	17-5-2	Mark Kerr	Submission (kneebar)	YAMMA Pit Fighting	000000002008-04-11-0000April 11, 2008	1	1:55	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	16-5-2	John Marsh	Submission (kneebar)	BodogFIGHT: USA vs. Russia	000000002007-11-30-0000November 30, 2007	2	0:33	Moscow, Russia
Win	15-5-2	Aaron Salinas	Submission (armbar)	Total Kombat	000000002001-05-13-0000May 13, 2001	1	1:24	McAllen, Texas, United States
Win	14-5-2	Moti Horenstein	Submission (kneebar)	National Freesparring	000000001998-02-21-0000February 21, 1998	1	3:24	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Win	13-5-2	Mick Tierney	Submission (kneebar)	National Freesparring	000000001998-02-21-0000February 21, 1998	1	3:58	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Loss	12-5-2	Gary Goodridge	KO (punch)	Pride 1	000000001997-10-11-0000October 11, 1997	1	4:57	Tokyo, Japan
Win	12-4-2	Sean Alvarez	KO (punches)	Pentagon Combat	000000001997-09-27-0000September 27, 1997	1	0:52	Brazil
Win	11-4-2	Chuck Kim	Submission (guillotine choke)	World Fighting Federation	000000001997-02-24-0000February 24, 1997	1	0:22	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Loss	10-4-2	Renzo Gracie	KO (upkick and punch)	Martial Arts Reality Superfighting	000000001996-11-22-0000November 22, 1996	1	1:02	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Draw	10-3-2	Marco Ruas	Draw	World Vale Tudo Championship 2	000000001996-11-10-0000November 10, 1996	1	31:12	Brazil
Win	10-3-1	Joe Charles	Submission (kneebar)	World Vale Tudo Championship 1	000000001996-08-14-0000August 14, 1996	1	4:42	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	9-3-1	Ryushi Yanagisawa	Decision (lost points)	Pancrase - Truth 5	000000001996-05-16-0000May 16, 1996	1	15:00	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	9-2-1	Dan Severn	Decision (unanimous)	Ultimate Ultimate 1995	000000001995-12-16-0000December 16, 1995	1	30:00	Denver, Colorado, United States
Win	9-1-1	Marco Ruas	Decision (unanimous)	Ultimate Ultimate 1995	000000001995-12-16-0000December 16, 1995	1	18:00	Denver, Colorado, United States
Win	8-1-1	Dave Beneteau	Submission (achilles hold)	Ultimate Ultimate 1995	000000001995-12-16-0000December 16, 1995	1	1:15	Denver, Colorado, United States
Draw	7-1-1	Ken Shamrock	Draw	UFC 7	000000001995-09-08-0000September 8, 1995	1	33:00	Buffalo, New York, United States
Win	7-1	Tank Abbott	Submission (rear naked choke)	UFC 6	000000001995-07-14-0000July 14, 1995	1	17:47	Casper, Wyoming, United States
Win	6-1	Anthony Macias	Submission (guillotine choke)	UFC 6	000000001995-07-14-0000July 14, 1995	1	0:09	Casper, Wyoming, United States
Win	5-1	Dave Beneteau	Submission (guillotine choke)	UFC 6	000000001995-07-14-0000July 14, 1995	1	0:57	Casper, Wyoming, United States
Loss	4-1	Dan Severn	TKO (cut)	UFC 5	000000001995-04-07-0000April 7, 1995	1	4:21	Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Win	4-0	Ernie Verdicia	Submission (choke)	UFC 5	000000001995-04-07-0000April 7, 1995	1	2:23	Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Win	3-0	Maxim Kuzin	Submission (choke)	White Dragon: Day Three	000000001993-10-23-0000October 23, 1993	1	1:11	Riga, Latvia
Win	2-0	Artur Almaev	TKO (corner stoppage)	White Dragon: Day Two	000000001993-10-22-0000October 22, 1993	1	4:25	Riga, Latvia
Win	1-0	Vaskas Hilma	Submission (choke)	White Dragon: Day Two	000000001993-10-22-0000October 22, 1993	1	0:24	Riga, Latvia

[ Source: Wikipedia ]