- Sergei Kharitonov
Russian
birthdate=birth date and age|mf=yes|year=1980|month=08|day=18
died=
fightingfrom= flagicon|RUSTula ,Russia
hometown= flagicon|USSRPlesetsk ,Arkhangelsk Oblast ,Russian SFSR ,Soviet Union
fightteam= flagicon|NetherlandsGolden Glory cite web
url=http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=3005435
title=Kharitonov finds new life in HERO'S
year=2007
accessdate=2007-09-12
publisher=ESPN /Sherdog ]
fightstyle=Sambo,Boxing ,Muay Thai
wins=16
losses=3
draws=0
ko=7
nocontest=
submissions=8|Sergei Kharitonov ( _ru. Сергей Харитонов, "Sergey Haritonov", IPA-ru|s̺ʲɛr̠ˈgɛj xar̪ʲiˈtonəf) (born August 18 , 1980) is a
Russia n heavyweightmixed martial arts . He has previously fought in Japanese MMA organizationPRIDE Fighting Championships , and is now scheduled to fight for DREAM.Biography
Sergei Kharitonov was born on August 18, 1980 in
Arkhangelsk ,Russia . His parents were very athletic: Sergei's mother was a volleyball coach, and his father at various times studied boxing, skating, soccer, and long distance marathon running. Under their influence, Sergei was very active physically while growing up.Kharitonov graduated from a high school with a specialization in
music (accordion ). Following the advice of his parents as well as his own dreams, Sergei went to theAirborne troops academy inRyazan ,Russia , and enlisting in theRussian Airborne Troops after finishing the academy. Kharitonov credits the army and the academy with giving him psychological skills he relies on during his fights.Sergei remains on the
active duty while training full time with theRussian Top Team . He is married to his wife, Natalia.cite web |url=http://kharitonov.mmaru.de/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8 |title=Sergei Kharitonov answers the questions from his fans. |accessdate=2007-04-06 |format= |work= |language=Russian]Sergei is supposedly having a feud with
Fedor Emelianenko after Fedor transferred from Russian Top Team toRed Devil Sport Club , and Kharitonov decided to stay with RTT.Kharitonov sometimes gets confused with his full namesake Sergey Haritonov, a much less prominent mixed martial arts fighter from
Estonia .Martial arts background and training regimen
Sergei started being interested in sports when he was still in
kindergarten , being taught at first by his father. Kharitonov started training boxing seriously when he was ten or eleven years old, following an incident when a drunken adult passer-by broke up a scuffle between Sergei and another boy by lifting Sergei in the air, hitting him in the face and cutting his eyebrow with that punch. The man justified his behavior by saying that Sergei should not have been hitting a grounded opponent.cite web |url=http://kharitonov.mmaru.de/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1 |title=Sergey Kharitonov: I want to try on the championship belt. |accessdate=2007-04-06 |format= |work= |language=Russian]At the age of sixteen, Kharitonov started studying
Combat Sambo . During his studies in the Airborne Troops Academy, Sergei started competing in hand-to-hand combat (simplified form of Combat Sambo) and MMA. After Kharitonov graduated from the Academy, he was contacted byVladimir Pogodin , the manager of theRussian Top Team , who invited him to join the club. At first, Sergei was invited to beFedor Emelianenko 'ssparring partner, who taught him manyground fighting techniques, including striking on the ground and submissions. Sergei kept competing at various Russian MMA competitions, and in October 2003 he debuted inPRIDE Fighting Championships , one of the top two leading MMA organizations in the world.Sergei trains with the Russian national boxing and Sambo teams, as well as some freestyle wrestlers. He also recently added
Muay Thai training to his regimen, and, according to him, he even borrows some elements fromkarate .Sergei Kharitonov trained in
Kirieevsk ,Russia , under coachMikhail Ilyukhin (Russian: Михаил Илюхин). Ilyukhin chose Kirieevsk as their training base due to a large number of heavyweight MMA fighters available there. According to him, key elements of Sergei's success are his willpower and unpredicability in the ring. As of September 2007 he recently began training with the Golden Glory fight team in Holland.In addition to competing in MMA and boxing, Sergei competes in
Combat Sambo for theRyazan "Desantnik" ("Paratrooper") club.Boxing
Sergei started his Amateur Boxing Career in 2000. He tried to get into the Russian Olympic Boxing team but got injured in the semi finals during a live boxing TV event. Instead he competed for Tajikistan in 2003 at the Central Asian Games where he won a silver medal [ [http://amateur-boxing.strefa.pl/Championships/CentralAsianGames2003.html CentralAsianGames2003 ] ] . Kharitonov earned a shot at that year’s Olympics, representing former Tajikistan (the former Soviet republics often have ethnic Russians on their teams) but passed on the chance to instead fight in the Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix.
In the fall of 2004 he competed in the Russian Boxing Championship and placed second. Sergei could not fight in the final match due to an injury.
PRIDE
Sergei had a successful career as a heavyweight fighter in the PRIDE Fighting Championship, with an overall PRIDE record of 8-3-0. As of late 2005, Kharitonov has struggled with ongoing injuries to his upper back and shoulders, evident in his victory against
Fabricio Werdum , in which his right shoulder was strained and injured nearly a minute into the bout, and in his loss toAlistair Overeem , where an awkward fall dislocated his shoulder.Kharitonov lost to
Aleksander Emelianenko at PRIDE's Final Conflict Absolute 2006 on Sept 9 2006.Kharitonov scored a win against Mike Russow at
PRIDE 33 in Las Vegas on February 24. [http://www.pridefc.com/pride2005/index.php?mainpage=news&news_id=1008]K-1 HERO's
On September 17, 2007, Kharitonov knocked out Alistair Overeem in the first round in the K-1 HERO's event, subsequently avenging a previous loss.
DREAM
Kharitonov's next fight was scheduled to be against
Mighty Mo atDREAM.6 on September 23, 2008. [ [http://dreamofficial.com/fightcard/dream6/ DREAM.6 official card] ] However Mighty Mo was forced to withdraw due to a back injury.Jimmy Ambriz will be Mighty Mo's replacement. Sergei scored a win in the first round by submission via strikes.Mixed martial arts record
Championships and accomplishments
Boxing
* 2003
Central Asian Games silver medalist
* Russian Championship silver medalist.Mixed Martial Arts
* PRIDE 2004 World Grand Prix semi-finalist
* Tournament of Real Men 8 champion.
* Brilliant 2 - Yalta's Brilliant 2000 champion.Other
* Six times champion
Russian Airborne Troops Hand-to-hand combat fight.
*Russian Airborne Troops Sambo champion.
*Eurasia Combat Sambo champion.
* Three times championRussian Army combat fight.
* Three times champion Russian combat Hand-to-hand fight.
* World Universal Fight champion.
* Two times Russian Free Fight championSee also
*
List of male mixed martial artists References
External links
* [http://www.sergeikharitonov.com/ Sergei's Site]
* [http://kharitonov.mmaru.de/ Official Site]
*sherdog|id=4184
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