Alexander Volkov

BIOGRAPHY

Alexander Volkov (born November 12, 1971) is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial artist and former Kickboxing World Champion. He currently competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Born in Kemerovo, Russia, Alexander began his martial arts training in sambo at the age of 13 and went on to become a professional kickboxer. In 1996 he became the world champion in kickboxing after winning the WAKO Pro Full Contact Middleweight title in addition to numerous regional titles.

Alexander then transitioned into mixed martial arts in 2001 when he joined Pride Fighting Championships. Over the course of his career he has faced some of the sports biggest names such as Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Hunt and Fedor Emelianenko. He had notable victories over Alistair Overeem and Peter Graham but his greatest moment came when he won an upset victory over former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski at Pride Total Elimination Absolute 2006.

In 2013 Alexander signed with UFC and made his debut against Roy Nelson at UFC 160 where he lost via submission due to punches. His next fight was also against a highly ranked opponent – Fabricio Werdum at UFC 164 – but this time around Alexander was able to pull off an impressive unanimous decision victory. He followed it up with another win against Anthony Hamilton at UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs Thatch in 2015 before dropping two consecutive fights against Stefan Struve and Timothy Johnson respectively causing him to be released from the promotion.

Since leaving the UFC, Alexander has gone 4-1 in his last five bouts competing mainly on regional shows throughout Europe while also serving as coach for numerous fighters such as Oleksiy Oliynyk and Zabit Magomedsharipov. Regardless of what comes next, Alexander Volkov will go down as one of MMA’s greatest heavyweights after having left an indelible mark on the sport during his long and illustrious career.