Igor Vovchanchyn

In September 2016, Rizin Fighting Federation CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara posted several photos on his Instagram account, showing Vovchanchyn training in his gym back in Ukraine - even hinting that he may invite Igor back to fight in Japan.

In July 2009, Vovchanchyn was linked to making his return in MMA at the Fighting Mixed Combative event in South Korea, which was scheduled for September 29, 2009. Although Jan Nortje was rumored to be his opponent, Vovchanchyn had just stated one year prior that he had no interest in fighting due to his injuries. The event took place and Igor did not appear on the card.

Although he was rumored to fight at PRIDE 34 against Wanderlei Silva, Vovchanchyn retired at age 32, citing multiple injuries, including a right hand that remained seriously affected as of 2008. It has been speculated that due to this injury, his last few performances in his career were passive. He finished his career in PRIDE with a record of 18-8 with 1 no contest, having the second most bouts in PRIDE history (27), second most wins in PRIDE history, and third most wins via KO/TKO (10). Vovchanchyn is considered one of MMA's hardest punchers, one of the best fighters in history to have never competed in the UFC, one of the greatest European mixed martial artists ever, and one of the best mixed martial artists of the 1990s. He was a top 10 heavyweight from April 1996 to January 2001 according to FightMatrix. In 2011 and in 2017, Vovchanchyn received several votes on Sherdog's 'MMA's All-Time Heavyweights' list.

In a 2008 interview, Vovchanchyn stated that since retiring from competition he runs a local cafe-bar called 'Champion'.

In 2005, Vovchanchyn moved down a weight division - beating former Pancrase Heavyweight champion Yoshiki Takahashi. Takahashi said after the fight, "I've never been knocked out by a single punch until today, I'm still dizzy and have [a] headache." After this victory, he entered PRIDE's 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix. PRIDE commentator Bas Rutten believed that Vovchanchyn was a favorite to win the tournament.

Vovchanchyn was matched against Yuki Kondo - the reigning Pancrase Light Heavyweight champion and former two-time Pancrase Openweight champion - in PRIDE Total Elimination 2005. Vovchanchyn controlled the fight, winning a unanimous decision.

He then fought Alistair Overeem in the quarter finals and lost via submission. Vovchanchyn received a second chance to progress when offered a fight against Kazuhiro Nakamura in PRIDE Final Conflict 2005, with the winner earning the right to be an alternate in the finals of the tournament. After 15 minutes, Vovchanchyn lost a unanimous judges' decision in what would be his last competitive MMA fight.

Breaking his losing streak at the start of 2004, Vovchanchyn defeated former King of the Cage Super Heavyweight champion Dan Bobish and was announced as one of the participants of PRIDE's upcoming 16-man heavyweight Grand Prix, but withdrew due to injury. Vovchanchyn went on to fight Katsuhisa Fujii at the end of the year.

After beating Bob Schrijber by submission in a Dutch promotion, Vovchanchyn faced off against Mirko Cro Cop in August 2003. Igor was knocked out via left head kick. This fight is considered a 'passing of the torch', as Vovchanchyn had split his last 8 fights in Pride with a record of 3-5 (1-3 in his last 4), and it elevated the newer striking sensation Cro Cop into an Interim Heavyweight Championship fight with Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. This would be Vovchanchyn's only ever loss via KO/TKO.

At the start of 2002, Vovchanchyn considered moving down to the Middleweight (205lb) division, and stated he thought he had a good chance to become a champion in that weight class. This move did not happen, and he faced Heath Herring at PRIDE 19, struggling in a fight which saw both grappling and striking from the two men, but after Herring accidentally headbutted Vovchanchyn at the third round, he was controlled by him, and judges gave the decision to Heath. Fighting Quinton Jackson would be similarly unfortunate for Vovchanchyn, as the American fighter slammed him twice, getting him submitted due to injury at PRIDE 22.

He ended the year on a high note; showing great grappling expertise against Valentijn Overeem at PRIDE 18, escaping from heel hook attempts and slipping his own heel hook for the tap out, ending 2001 with a mixed record in PRIDE - going 3-2.

In his next fight, Vovchanchyn fought Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Francisco Bueno. Igor knocked Bueno out with a vicious combination, Bueno literally falling face first as he was being punched in the face. This knockout is still to this day considered one of the most brutal knockouts in the history of MMA - it even prompted the promoters of K-1 to give him $1,000 cash in the locker room and propose that he fought K-1 Champion Ernesto Hoost. After this string of victories, Vovchanchyn became a huge favorite going into the Pride Grand Prix 2000.

Vovchanchyn had been considered the top fighter in the sport for some years, and as commentators Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten stated, he was likely the favorite to win the tournament. In the opening round he defeated Japanese professional wrestler Alexander Otsuka by decision and, in a rematch with Gary Goodridge, decisively won by knockout in an entirely stand-up fight. He reached the final of the PRIDE 2000 Openweight Grand Prix.

Igor then fought Enson Inoue at PRIDE 10 in what was one of the most one sided fights in MMA history, which resulted in a doctor stoppage after the end of the 1st round. Inoue later recounted of the fight, "I sustained a broken jaw, fractured finger, perforated eardrum, swollen brain, a liver count 2000x the normal person and spent 2 days in intensive care." Vovchanchyn then faced off against Nobuhiko Takada at PRIDE 11, who was the trainer of Sakuraba and Matsui. Vovchanchyn was taken down and met leg kicks and some resistance, but he finished him on the second round via ground and pound.

With his dominant kickboxing style, he became famed for being one of the few strictly stand-up fighters to overcome grappling-based opponents, exemplified in his victory in the 8-man Mr. Strongman Sekai tournament in Minsk, Belarus on January 23, 1996.

In March 1996, Vovchanchyn fought in and won 3 different tournaments: the DNRF: Ukrainian Octagon, the UCMAL: Ukrainian No Rules Championship, and the first ever IFC event: IFC 1: Kombat in Kiev. Across these three tournaments, he won 9 fights (7 KO/TKO's and 2 submissions) with none of them going past the first round. At the IFC tournament, all three men he faced in the same night (Fred Floyd, Paul Varelans and John Dixon) weighed over 300 pounds/136 kilograms. The fight against Paul Varelans was considered one of the greatest fights in European MMA history. In attendance at this event, was former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks, who was a 'guest of honor'.

Vovchanchyn was invited to fight at UFC 11 in September 1996, but could not participate due to visa issues as well as dissatisfaction with the offer.

In late 1995, Vovchanchyn transitioned from a successful kickboxing career to MMA after being invited to participate at Honour of the Warrior in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In this 8-man tournament, Vovchanchyn knocked out his first two opponents before losing via submission to Ukrainian Sambist Andrey Besedin in the final.

Vovchanchyn was born in the settlement of Fesky, in the Zolochevsky district to his father Yaroslav Iosifovich and his mother Kladiya Michaylovna. Vovchanchyn said that growing up, he caused trouble and got into street fights and different kinds of mischief. Due to his antics, there was a popular story in circulation, that whenever Igor became upset, the villagers would ring a bell in the center of town which would alarm everyone to stay in their houses until Igor calmed down. Vovchanchyn later stated that this story was just a joke, although there was a bell in the center of town. At age 17, he moved to Kharkiv and began competing in track and field, running the 100m dash and throwing the discus. Due to his love for fighting, he later moved to boxing under trainer Oleg Ermakov. In 1993, he met Eugenia Borschevskaya, general secretary of the All Eurasian Kickboxing Federation. After taking up kickboxing, he later went to Denmark to compete at the World Kickboxing Amateur Championships with the Ukrainian national team, where he became the world champion that same year. Vovchanchyn also won the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) kickboxing championship in 1994.

Igor Yaroslavovych Vovchanchyn (vov-CHUN -chin, Ukrainian: Ігор Ярославович Вовчанчин ; born August 6, 1973) is a retired Ukrainian mixed martial artist and kickboxer, who competed in early no holds barred MMA contests. After making his professional MMA debut in 1995, he won nine openweight mixed martial arts tournaments (back when tournament format required 3 to 4 consecutive bare-knuckle fights during the same night,) 3 superfights, holds the second longest unbeaten streak in MMA (at 37 fights,) and is the second most successful MMA fighter ever by number of wins achieved by way of knockout. A stand-up striker throughout most of his career, he is widely considered one of the MMA legends, Ukrainian authorities created a MMA tournament named after him, the Igor Vovchanchyn Cup.