Blagoy “Baga”Ivanov

Blagoy Ivanov is a professional mixed martial artist from Bulgaria. He currently competes in the heavyweight division of the UFC, and has previously fought for Bellator and World Series of Fighting.

Ivanov was born on May 5th, 1986 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Growing up he was exposed to multiple sports such as wrestling, judo, kickboxing and boxing which eventually led him to pursue a career in MMA.

Ivanov made his debut as a professional fighter in 2006 when he competed under the Bulgarian promotion Fight Nights Global where he went on to win three fights consecutively by submission or TKO finish before moving onto another regional European promotion called SuperKombat where he went undefeated during his two bouts there.

In 2011 Ivanov joined the Viacom-owned Bellator organization where during his five fight appearance with them all five ending with wins that were either submission or TKO finishes resulting in him being crowned as one of their inaugural Heavyweight Champions at only 25 years old; making him one of the youngest champions ever at that time for any major American MMA promotion. Following his title reign at Bellator Ivanov moved on to compete for The World Series Of Fighting (WSOF) where he also had success going 4-0 before signing with UFC in 2018 becoming just their fourth Bulgarian fighter competing within organization’s history alongside Alexander Yakoulev, Aleksander Rakic and Stanislav Nedkov respectively .

Since joining UFC Blagoy has since gone 3-2 fighting some big names within sport like Ben Rothwell who Blagoy beat via unanimous decision back 2019 at Fight Night 163 while taking part several “Fight Of The Night” performances along way including most recently against Augusto Sakai earlier this year during UFC Fight Night 173 event held Las Vegas – Nevada USA wherr challenged Brazilian born champion unable take away belt but still managed garner himself $50k bonus due outstanding performance put forth both competitors night itself proving be one toughest fighters game today despite fact has been touted by many fans across globe own contemporary “MMA Godfather” due level respect gained through years competition showing not be taken lightly whenever steps octagon next time around!