“One should be able to think strategically and logically, possess firmness, be cold-blooded and patient.” - Igor Vovchanchyn

To longtime fans of mixed martial arts—and the whippersnappers who have the foresight to look back for answers—Igor Vovchanchyn is a firm favourite.

A short and stout man from the Eastern Bloc, a gutsy warrior who dished it out in spades and took it back without nary a thought, the Ukraine Freight Train was a monster, a legitimate banger who should not be forgotten when any scribe dares to pen a list of MMA’s hardest punchers.

His frame, penchant for beating up proud fighting men no matter their size, and his scary power brings to mind one of boxing’s great terrors, Sam Langford. And like Langford, Vovchanchyn was one of the premier heavyweights for much of the early history of his own combat sport.

Just as boxing moved on London Prize Ring Rules and the bareknuckle era into a more regulated sport with gloves and more stringent rules, MMA quickly moved from many different iterations into the sport we know today.

Igor Vovchanchyn was not a pioneer, but he fought in many different rule sets before taking his devastating power over to Japan, wowing Pride FC fans with his heart and highlight-reel knockouts, beating the likes of Mark Kerr (later changed to an NC for illegal knees but the footage shows an Igor victory), Enson Inoue, Gilbert Yvel and Kazushi Sakuraba.

But what of these early fights? An Igor super fan (and apparent personal friend) known only as ‘AlexNHB’ has reportedly tracked down the majority of Vovchanchyn’s bouts, barring seven (no mean feat considering Vovchanchyn’s official record accounts for 67 fights) and even mentions a fight that Igor apparently had in a Russian prison with a mobster .

The fights we will be looking at are not just to get a grasp on Igor’s progression from barely-organised bare knuckle martial arts bouts to the biggest stage in MMA, but to also take a look at how MMA was still developing in Eastern Europe in the mid-90’s.

Bear in mind, the UFC were still struggling to get their fights on in 1996 and had to yet to crown their (official) inaugural heavyweight champ. Pride wouldn’t stage its first event until 1997. This was still the human cockfighting era, where cowboy outfits would stage barely legal fights with barely defined rules.

This was also the time Ukraine sent three of its best guys over to the communist stronghold of Belarus to fight their (alleged) best guys in a one-night tournament. 22-year old kickboxer Igor Vovchanchyn was one of those fighters aiming to become ‘Powerman’.

Early Igor

To label Vovchanchyn a ‘kickboxer’ going into this is only partially accurate: despite internet sleuths managing to source the majority of his MMA contests, his vaunted kickboxing career seems to be up for debate: some amateur experience, apparently some pro experience, but only one fight accounted for (a much later contest against the all-time great Ernesto Hoost).

Record keeping in Russian and Ukrainian kickboxing is likely not the best, but it is fact than Vovchanchyn didn’t fight at the top level of kickboxing. That much we can ascertain from the facts that are out there.

Based on various interviews, it is taken for fact that the young Igor Vochanchyn was a troubled youth who enjoyed fighting more than anything.

“When I was a kid, I fought all the time. I had a routine: Fight, sleep, wake up and fight again. I fought constantly…in class, on the streets, and at home. I never wanted to be anything but a fighter since I was a kid” (1)

Turning first to the boxing gym and then to kickboxing, he did compete and win at the 1994 World Kickboxing Amateur Championships in Denmark. Take from that what you will.

What is clear is that Igor quickly saw the potential for causing violence in the young sport of mixed martial arts:

“I happened to see a video with ‘Ultimate Fights’, and I immediately fell in love with this martial arts style. It was like street fighting—you were allowed to do anything.”(2)

Vovchanchyn was 5-2 coming into this tournament, but coming off of a loss at an ‘International Absolute Fighting Council’ event to Russian Top Team member and Fedor Emelianenko teammate Mikhail Ilyukhin. Ilyukhin was a good fighter who would later compete for RINGS and even make an appearance in Pride.

This loss took place at Absolute Fighting Championship I which was a NHB event held in Moscow in 1995. Owing to the violent rule set of Russian no-holds barred fighting, Vovchanchyn tapped to the unique submission hold of ‘chin to the eye’ which can be seen in the footage below (at 1:19:10).

Whilst Vovchanchyn succumbed to this rough submission, there are other bouts of his at this event that are viewable, including Igor sleeping one of his opponents so badly he awkwardly faceplants and snaps his arm (no joke, fight starts at 21:17) and a bizarre two-fight ‘series’ with Renzo Gracie trained Adilson Lima (51:30) who got a rematch with Vovchanchyn after Gracie objected to Igor’s soccer kicks which ended their first fight. Vovchanchyn simply beat up Lima again. The combined total running times of both fights: Less than three minutes! With the tournament you see that Vovchanchyn is already becoming the fighter we know of in his prime: Patient, good timing, thudding leg kicks, powerful ground strikes and of course his patented right hand.