Alexander Sarnavskiy
Alexander Sarnavskiy (, born January 17, 1989) is a 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. He is ranked #1 in the ACA lightweight rankings. Mixed martial arts career. 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 , 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 . 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 . 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 via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27). In 2013, Sarnavskiy entered as a participant in the 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 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 December 18, 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 . He lost the fight via submission in the second round.