Where it all began
Long before the modern days of MMA even before the "golden days" of MMA in Japanese PRIDE, in the very infancy of the sport we all came to love - there was NHB fighting. It was a time where the sport was largely filled with strikers but dominated by grapplers. "Tough man" tournaments trying to prove which man is the baddest dude on the planet were popping up all over the world. They were raw, brutal and bloody. Such tournaments happened in Ukraine. The fights were mostly "style vs style" type fights and no protection what so ever was required or enforced. No fight gloves, hand wraps, mouth guards or groin guards. It was, for the lack of a better term, legalized street fighting. Since the fights were arranged in a tournament style, in order to win the tournament, you had to fight multiple opponents in one night.
King of the Iron Fist Tournament
A young, short, stocky and quiet Ukrainian decided to test himself in the new sport and see how far can he go. Since Igor had a pretty good kickboxing record(62-2) he already had an upper hand on most fighters he faced and seeing as at the time those were mostly street level tough man, Igor made short work of his opponents. He debuted at "UCMAL: Warrior's Honour 1" tournament on October 14, 1995 and by October 11, 1998 Igor already had an MMA record of 31 wins and 2 losses! Not only is that a lot of fights, it's not even the most impressive part of his record. Like I mentioned above, he competed in tournament style events, meaning multiple fights in one night. In those 2 years, Igor fought in 10 multiple fight-one night tournaments and 3 regular events. Most notably comes March of 1996 when Igor fought 3 times on March 1st, 3 times on March 9th and again 3 times on March 30th. Needless to say those were all wins.
Igor's debut fight against Alexandr Mandrik
Die by the sword
By the time Igor came to Pride, the sport had already outgrown the grueling bare knuckle/no rules style vs style way of fighting Igor was so good at. His win streak was stopped in the year 2000 when Igor fought Mark Coleman in Pride's "Pride GP 2000" event. By the early 2000's Igor's decline started to take a hold of him. His fighting style was a thing of past and younger and better fighters were starting to replace the under developed fighters such as himself. He was essentially a great kickboxer with an not so great ground game. Most notable loss coming from the then up and coming young sprout you may have heard about, Mirko Cro Cop. It didn't take much for more experienced and much bigger fighters to start taking his disadvantages to their advantage. Even a late career resurgence with a change of weight class didn't last long as his last 2 fights were losses. Ultimately Igor retired in 2005 with a mind blowing 55-10 fight record.
Final word
Igor was a product of a different time, a different era of fighting. At 5'8' and 195lbs he fought at heavyweight while being drastically out sized by many of his opponents. Even with that he was one of the greatest heavyweight fighers in the world at one point. His knockout of Francisco Bueno is a thing of nightmares and Enson Inou literally almost died after his encounter with Igor. He was so good at what he did that not even fighters who out weighted him drastically or were much taller than him, stood any chance. Igor just chopped them down like trees.
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| Paul Varelans stood at 6 feet and 8 inches and weighted at 300 lbs, source |
Fighters of today, much like Igor are a product of a different time. Some would say a worse time others would say a better time. I will say, a safer time. Modern day MMA is a highly regulated professional sport. It has moved a long way from the late 20th century raw style of NHB fighting, Hand wraps, fighting gloves, mouth guards and groin guards are no longer "optional". They are mandatory. The way of fighting has changed, if the way of old was a mindless brawl, 21st century MMA has more resemblance to a full contact chess game. No longer do we witness fights that are one step away from being a street fight. Today's MMA fights are all about gameplans and winning strategies. Each fighter has an entire team of highly skilled professionals who each have the task of sharpening a specific part of the fighters skill set.
I wrote this with the goal of introuducing new fans(and reminding old ones) to the greatness of some old school legends such as Vovchanchyn. I'll try to incoporate this more regulary in my blog writing. As per usual, you can like me on facebook. Maybe I'll throw in some free beers if you like my page, who knows. The comment sections is below, sooo drop a comment. I wanna know how to improve this blog. See you soon folks!
Hey man, great piece. Reminds me that there's people who haven't forgot the glory days of the pre mma landscape. It was 1997 when I saw my first Igor fight. And firmly cemented my fate as an eternal fan of the sport. Igor taught the lesson of determination, how to win the striking battle being short on the jab (left hook followed by an almost straight overhand right while slipping to the left) and an unmatched toughness that was forged in the early days of his career. Those tournaments must have been unbelievably grueling. And some praise should also be given to the level of nhb activity going on from the mid to late nineties in the Ukraine. Which was pretty active and is rarely, to never, mentioned, anywhere, ever. There is no fighter I praise higher than Igor. Not even Fedor, and his glorious success. Igor planted the seed of what was excepted as a legitimate heavyweight champ, even though he never saw true gold as it slipped through his fingers in the 2000 GP final. A loss to Mark Coleman that hurts even me to this day. And his history that follows always gave him the true label of the king without a crown. Some people minimized his talents, calling him a one dimensional brawler, which he was not. He was very knowledgeable of grappling, and very technical at times. His fight with Gilbert Yvel was proof of that, as well as various other fights. And sure he had some losses as every great fighter falls from grace. The ever closing athletic window, and the unstoppable element of father time claims even the greatest of warriors. I almost feel as if I lost a family member or friend since he's been gone from the sport. I wish he could have made one last try at lightheavyweight. Around 2008ish, but I know those days have long passed and it's time for the new Igor to emerge. Which is one tall, cold, order. Until then, maybe I'll grab some snacks, a six pack, and hook up the VCR. Dust off IFC 1 and relive one of the first chapters of the book of MMA. I sure hope all is well with Igor during this terrible time in Ukraine. One thing is for sure, they'll be sorry if they meet him with hostility. Thanks for a must needed trip down memory lane!
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