Other names Tiger Name Alexander Sarnavskiy Wins by knockout 7 Reach 70.5 in (179 cm) | Weight 70 kg Nationality Russian Height 1.80 m | |
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Fighting out of Omsk, RussiaLake Forest, California, U.S | ||
Alexander sarnavskiy career highlight 20 0 molesymma
Alexander Sarnavskiy (born January 17, 1989) is an Ethnic Russian mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Sarnavskiy has mostly competed in his native Russia, where he is an M-1 Global veteran and former lightweight division in the Bellator Fighting Championships. Alexander is currently ranked as the #4 lightweight in Europe.
Contents
- Alexander sarnavskiy career highlight 20 0 molesymma
- Background
- M 1 Global
- Bellator MMA
- Post Bellator MMA
- Eurasia Fight Nights Global EFN
- Absolute Championship Berkut
- Championships and accomplishments
- References
Background
Sarnavskiy trains at RusFighters Sport Club, which is also home to Bellator season three middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko. Like Shlemenko, Sarnavskiy shows a tendency to prefer the striking aspect of fighting, though he is regarded as skilled on the ground too, as evidenced by his opening two victories coming via triangle choke.
M-1 Global
After compiling a record of 8-0 (3 submission, 4 KO/TKOs), Sarnavskiy joined M-1 Global to enter their selection tournament. His opening round fight was against Maxim Kuptsov. Midway through the first round, Sarnavskiy caught his opponent in a body triangle and peppered him with punches from behind. He soon went for a rear naked choke, which forced the tapout from Kuptsov.
Sarnavskiy then faced Karen Grigoryan in the next round, defeating him by split decision, advancing him to the final.
Following the win over Grigoryan, Sherdog ranked him as the number one undefeated European prospect in the sport. Around the same time, Sarnavskiy was scheduled to face Artiom Damkovsky at the M-1 Eastern European Finals. The bout was cancelled however and Damkovsky faced a replacement opponent in the final.
Appearing at M-1 Challenge XXI: Guram vs. Garner, Sarnavskiy faced Victor Kuku. Immediately, Sarnavskiy went after Kuku and went for a flying knee. Sarnavskiy's spinning back fist knocked Kuku down, before he hit Kuku with a barrage of punches to claim the knockout win.
Sarnavskiy made his U.S. MMA debut in Norfolk, Virginia on March 25, 2011 on the televised portion of M-1 Challenge: Damkovsky vs. Figueroa. He faced late replacement Beau Baker and won the fight via submission in the second round.
Bellator MMA
On June 19, 2012, Sarnavskiy signed with Bellator, thus terminating the contract with M-1 Global.
Sarnavskiy entered as a participant in the Bellator season seven lightweight tournament. In the opening round, he faced Rich Clementi on October 19, 2012 at Bellator 77. He lost the fight via split decision (29–28, 28–29, 30–26).
Sarnavskiy defeated Tony Hervey on November 30, 2012 at Bellator 82 via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27).
In 2013, Sarnavskiy entered as a participant in the Bellator Season 8 Lightweight tournament. He faced Brazilian Kickboxer Thiago Michel in the quarter finals on January 31, 2013 at Bellator 87 and won via submission in the second round.
Sarnavskiy was originally scheduled to face David Rickels in the semifinals. However, Sarnavskiy fractured his hand during his first fight and had to withdraw from the tournament.
In the fall of 2013, Sarnavskiy entered the next Lightweight tournament. He faced Marcus Davis on September 27, 2013 at Bellator 101 in the Quarterfinals of Bellator's Season Nine Lightweight Tournament. After knocking Davis down with a punch, he took his back and eventually won via a rear naked choke submission.
Sarnavskiy faced Ricardo Tirloni in the semifinals and won via triangle choke in the first round.
Sarnavskiy faced Will Brooks in the finals and lost via unanimous decision.
After nearly a year away from the Bellator cage, Sarnavskiy was expected to face John Gunderson on October 10, 2014 at Bellator 128. However, Gunderson withdrew from the bout and retired from MMA fighting. Derek Campos stepped in as a replacement. An injury forced Campos out of the fight, Sarnavskiy eventually faced promotional newcomer Dakota Cochrane. He won the fight by submission in the first round.
Sarnavskiy faced Marcin Held on April 10, 2015 at Bellator 136. He lost the fight via verbal submission in the third round and was subsequently released from the promotion.
Post-Bellator MMA
Sarnavskiy faced Jesse Ronson on October 3, 2015 at Abu Dhabi Warriors 3. He won via unanimous decision.
Eurasia Fight Nights Global (EFN)
Sarnavskiy faced Murad Machaev on February 26, 2016 at Fight Nights: Battle of Moscow 21. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Sarnavskiy faced Dmitry Bikrev on April 29, 2016 at Fight Nights Global 46. He won the fight via submission in the second round.
Absolute Championship Berkut
Sarnavskiy faced Ustarmagomed Gadzhidaudov on September 17, 2016 at ACB 45: Silva vs. Magomedsharipov. He lost the fight by knockout in the second round.
Sarnavskiy faced Ramazan Esenbaev on 18 December, 2016 at ACB 50: Rasulov vs. Goltsov. He won thefight via TKO in the third round.
Sarnavskiy faced Eduard Vartanyan on April 15, 2017 at ACB 57: Payback. He lost the fight via submission in the second round.