Other names The Carpathian Bear Years active 2010-present (MMA) Nationality Romania Name Gheorghe Ignat | Division 265 Height 1.91 m Team The Arena | |
 | ||
Residence San Diego, California, United States | ||
Gheorghe ignat highlights romanian mma fighter
Gheorghe "The Carpathian Bear" Ignat (born December 11, 1983, in Suceava, Romania) is a Mixed Martial Arts fighter with a background in Greco-Roman Wrestling. He trains at The Arena, the well-known MMA gym from San Diego.
Contents
- Gheorghe ignat highlights romanian mma fighter
- Wrestling career
- Sambo career
- Mixed Martial Arts career
- Move to United States
- Personal life
- Training partners
- References
Wrestling career
Ignat is the 8x Greco-Roman Heavyweight Wrestling champion of Romania. He is also the current Balkan champion, as well as winner of multiple Silver and Bronze Medals in numerous International Wrestling championships.
In 1995, Ignat began wrestling after he was discovered by Valerica Gherasim, one of the most accomplished wrestling coaches in Romania. Gherasim paid special attention to Ignat due to his size at the time; 6' tall and 220 lbs by the age of 12. After three years of training, Ignat won a national championship in 1998 and was invited by the Romanian Wrestling Federation (F.R.L.) to the Junior National Team at the age of 15.
In 1999, he made the Senior Olympic team at the age of 16, the youngest wrestler in Romanian history to do so. He trained with the team for years in Poiana Braşov, a city at the base of the Carpathian Mountains.
He returned to Romania and resumed his wrestling career, winning the Romanian Championships again as well as the Balkans Championship in 2009.
Sambo career
Ignat start his Sambo career (Russian martial arts) in 2014,winning the Romanian Nationals and getting double gold medals in Sambo Combat and Sambo Sportiv. In May 2014 Ignat got the bronze medal at European Sambo Championship.He made his debut in the world stage of Sambo with really good fights in the heavyweight division. Now Ignat is to be placed in Top 5 in the world.
Mixed Martial Arts career
In 2010 Gheorghe fought for the first time in the cage,the event was held by the well known Mixed martial arts,MMA Promotion Gladiator Challenge and took place in San Jacinto, California, United States.He defeated much more experienced Ryan Varela a Mexican- American cage fighter, after 5 years Ignat it is still undefeated in the heavyweight division, many hope to see Ignat fighting for the legendary promotion UFC.
Move to United States
In October 2009, Ignat came to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a professional MMA fighter. He joined The Arena gym in San Diego, based on its growing reputation as one of the top fight teams in the country. Ignat also instructs Greco-Roman Wrestling to other professional fighters located at The Arena. At the moment he lives in San Diego, California.
Personal life
Ignat is married to his childhood sweetheart, Adriana, and has three sons, Octavian,Alexander and Gheorghe . His wife and father help him run a trucking company that Ignat started when he was only 22 years old. In 2013 Ignat Gheorghe become a good Christian along with his wife Adriana they decited to follow Jesus for the rest of their lives,to put everything they had ever on Gods hands and to live life on Christian basics and values.
Training partners
Ignat had the chance to meet and train with some of the best MMA fighters and BJJ masters in the world. He first started training BJJ with Saulo and Xande Ribeiro, two of the best BJJ masters, at the University of Jiu Jitsu in San Diego, California.
Training at The Arena in San Diego, Ignat trained with the Minotauro brothers, Demian Maia, Junior dos Santos, Mark Muñoz, K.J. Noons, Joe Duarte and many other top fighters in the world.
While in Europe Ignat is making the most of his camps in the Netherlands at Fight and Power Academy where he is training alongside Alistair Overeem and his brother Valentijn.