Eldar “Yakuza” Rafigaev is one of the biggest European BJJ prospects. This Half Moldovan Half Russian purple belt fighting out of Jungle BJJ in Czech Republic is a competition machine in Central-Eastern Europe, and medals everywhere he goes.

Eldar competes every single weekend all over Europe. Sometimes he even does one competition on a Saturday then travels to a different country and does a competition the next day.

Check out our interview with Yakuza: Click Here

Last wednesday, Eldar Yakuza fought his first pro MMA fight and won in the first round by RNC, without throwing one single punch against Jan “Jay Jay” Gottvald who was 3 – 0 in professional MMA fights.



Gottvald was talking trash about BJJ before the fight, and after using pure Jiu-Jitsu, not throwing a single punch and submitting him, Eldar Yakuza showed him his Helio Gracie tattoo (he has Helio Gracie tattooed on his shin).

BJJEE talked to Yakuza following his victory:

I feel really cool because I showed people that MMA is not only about punching people. Many Czech guys don’t do bjj and they don’t like to train with the Gi and I think it is a big problem in Czech Republic. Before the fight I trained a lot of BJJ and competed a lot in Gi and No Gi tournaments, but also trained Muay Thai and wrestling. My opponent talked a lot of bad things about BJJ not being MMA and that he would smash my face, he would kill me and bla bla bla. He was not a novice at MMA as he already took a medal at World Amateur MMA Championship in 2014. Now I will prepare for European No-Gi, Finish Open, Worlds Abu Dhabi and Naga also think about some MMA fights.

Well done Eldar and we wish you continued success in BJJ and MMA!

Watch the fight: