Oleg Taktarov Movies and Career Information

Oleg Nikolaevich Taktarov (Russian: Оле́г Никола́евич Такта́ров; born August 26, 1967) is a retired Russian mixed martial artist and actor. He is a practitioner of Sambo and Judo and has competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships. Taktarov was the UFC 6 tournament champion and holds notable wins over Marco Ruas and David "Tank" Abbott. Taktarov is known for being exceptionally calm during fights and for using a variety of rarely seen, acrobatic Sambo take-downs. Taktarov has never been submitted in an MMA fight. Taktarov was born in the closed city Arzamas-16 (today known as Sarov), USSR, before his family moved to Gorky, an industrial centre and Russia’s third-largest city. Oleg’s father, a construction worker, wanted his son to become involved in sport, and so took him to a gymnasium at the nearby city of Sarov, with the intention of enrolling Oleg in ice hockey or weightlifting. But the twelve-year-old Taktarov had other ideas after observing athletes practising judo. At first it appeared his father would have his way because the Sarov judo division had a policy of not accepting people from outside their city, but the instructor was impressed