Who is Alexander Yakovlev: 15 Facts About the Man who takes on Damien Maia on Saturday

Who is Alexander Yakovlev: 15 Facts About the Man who takes on Damien Maia on Saturday
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

Professional MMA Career

On Saturday Night Russian Welterweight Alexander Yakovlev will take on legendary grappler Damien Maia, a former Middleweight title challenger turned top 10 welterweight. So who is Alexander Yakovlev, we have put together xx facts about the man who will take on the ADCC champion in his native Brazil. 

Yakovlev was initially expected to make his UFC debut against Yan Cabral on May 10, 2014 at UFC Fight Night: Brown vs. Silva. However, on April 9, Yakovlev was moved to the The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale card as a replacement for injured Mike Pierce against Demian Maia.

Yakovlev defeated British slugger Paul 'Semtex' Daley in his last outing to earn his contract with the UFC. The bout took place this past November at Legend 2 in Russia.

Yakovlev's fight with Damien Maia will be his first professional bout outside of Russia with his previous 26 professional bouts all taking place in his homeland.

Yakovlev has only lost once in 5 years. That loss came to current UFC fighter Rashid Magomedov under the M-1 banner.

Yakovlev has finishes 16 of his 21 victories - 8 by submission, 8 by TKO / KO

Championships and Accomplishments

Alexander recently took gold at in the Mens NO-GI Expert Cruiser Weight division at the 2014 NAGA World Championships.

Yakovlev can also count medals at the Russian Freestyle Wrestling Championships, Russian Hand-to-hand combat Championships, and Russian Sambo Championship amongst his accomplishments.

Yakovlev won the 2013 Russian national Hand-to-Hand-Combat champion. He beat Alexei Nazarov, Andrey Koreshkov and Alexander Stetsurenko.

Alexander fought for the M-1 Global Welterweight Championship losing to Rashid Magomedov.

Personal Life

Alexander Yakovlev's nickname is 'badboy'.

Yakovlev grow up in one of Russia's oldest Cities, Veliky Novgorod.

Yakovlev dreamed of being an Olympic wrestler as a child but feel in love with MMA after seeing country Oleg Taktarov beat Tank Abbott at UFC 6.

Alexander Yakovlev graduated from university in 2007 with the rank of the Lieutenant of Criminal Justice. He worked in the Department of Internal Affairs before turning pro.

The Russian has recorded a rap song in his native tongue entitled 'Money Power'. The music video for the song opens with a scene from the movie Scarface and show Yakovlev hitting punching bags throughout the video. You can watch the video on Youtube here.

Alexander Yakovlev Signs with The UFC

Alexander Yakovlev Signs with The UFC
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

The Russian craze continues with Alexander Yakovlev becoming the latest Eastern European fighter to join the UFC on a 6 fight deal. Yakovlev's manager Doug Robert today confirmed the signing with Kingdom MMA, warning the UFC's welterweights to be ready:

"Yakovlev is ready to fight the best to be the best" Robert said. "Watch out for the Bad Boy from Russia."

Born in Veliky Novgorod one of the oldest cities in Russia, Yakovlev spent his childhood dreaming of becoming an Olympic wrestler, until he watched a video of fellow Russian Oleg Taktarov defeating Tank Abbott at UFC 6 to become a UFC tournament champion.

A pro for over 9 years, Yakovlev rose to international attention in November when he defeated renowned knockout artist Paul Daley by unanimous decision at Legends 2, and immediate set his sites on joining the UFC. Speaking to Kingdom MMA earlier this month, the Russian said:

'All fighters dream of [being] in the UFC and I'm no exception. It's the best organisation in the world and there are gathered the best of the best.'

I don't like to talk big, but I can say for sure if I'm selected, I will do my best to become the champion!' 

At 21-4 the Russian with 16 finishes to his name - 8 by TKO & 8 by submission, Yakovlev has got his wish, and joins fellow Russians Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rustam Khabilov, Ali Bagautinov and Omari Akhmedov in the UFC.

Yakovlev becomes the second fighter to join the UFC today, with Joe Ellenberger - twin brother to Jake, also signing with the promotion. No date has been set yet for Yakovlev's UFC debut, however with a minimum of 6 European cards planned for 2014, its likely we could Yakovlev could debut on one of these cards.

Stay tuned to KingdomMMA.co.uk for all your latest UFC news. 

Alexander Yakovlev‏ Not Interested in Paul Daley Rematch, Wants to Join UFC

Alexander Yakovlev‏ Not Interested in Paul Daley Rematch, Wants to Join UFC

by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

Alexander Yakovlev made his professional MMA debut in 2004, yet he will have only came to the attention of some UK MMA fans some 9 years later when he took on Paul Daley at Legends 2.

MMA fans in the UK could be forgiven for not too knowing much about the 29 year old Russian, after all, he has never fought outside of his homeland, but those will be the same fans who underestimated Yakovlev going into the fight with Daley.

After a nervy first round, Yakovlev used his background in sambo to take the fight to the ground, and out point Daley on the way to unanimous decision victory.

Daley has since questioned if he would have lost the fight, had the bout with Yakovlev took place in a cage rather than a ring and has expressed an interest in a rematch. Yakovlev has other plans however, and doesn't think the ring had any outcome on the result: 

"I am not interested in a rematch with Daley" said Yakovlev. 

"That evening I was in very good shape and I think that in this state, I would have won it anywhere, even on a football field."

A win over a former top 10 welterweight puts Yakovlev in a great position in the welterweight rankings. At 21-4 the Russian is a finisher with 16 finishes to his name - 8 by TKO & 8 by submission. Yakovlev has shown an array of striking and grappling exhibiting what a truly diverse, well rounded fighter he is. Having only lost once in 5 years and that loss came to fellow Russian and recent UFC signee Rashid Magomedov, Yakovlev is on the road to big things.

2013 has been a hugely successful year for Russian fighters in the UFC, with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rustam Khabilov, Ali Bagautinov and Omari Akhmedov terrorising their respected weight divisions, not losing a single fight in the process. However, Yakovlev isn't surprised by the performance of his fellow countrymen:

'In Russia [there] have always been good fighters, but not always there were people who could show them to the world'

With a minimum 6 UFC events planed for Europe, the success of Nurmagomedov, Khabilov etc. has made Russian fighters hot property going into 2014, with the worlds biggest promotion signing 7 Russian fighters in recent months, and make no mistake about, Yakovlev wants a piece of the action too:

'All fighters dream of [being] in the UFC and I'm no exception. It's the best organisation in the world and there are gathered the best of the best.' 

'I am truly versatile fighter. My stand up as well as ground game are equally as good. I don't like to talk big, but I can say for sure if I'm selected, I will do my best to become the champion!'

With the rise of Russian fighters in the UFC in 2013, it won't be long before we see Yakovlev also in the worlds biggest promotion and as one of the most exciting prospect on the market, it couldn't come soon enough.... If you didn't know who Alexander Yakovlev was before the Paul Daley fight and you still don't, mark my words, you will do soon.

Paul Daley vs. Alexander Yakovlev at the Legend

Paul Daley vs. Alexander Yakovlev at the Legend

This is the second officially announced bout of the event, the first being the fight between the scandalous Russian heavyweight Alexander Emelianenko and the Croatian MMA legend Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.

Alexander Yakovlev (19-4-1) is well known to Russian fans for his M-1 league performance. Yakovlev, who has certificates of mastery in hand-to-hand fighting, freestyle wrestling, sambo, and combat sambo, clinched the win in 16 of his fights, with 8 knockouts and 8 submissions.

Last November, with 5 wins in a run and a tie in hard confrontation with Shamil Zavurod, Yakovlev had a title fight with the M-1 Challenge champion Rashid Magomedov, but lost by the judges' decision. Having drawn the right conclusions from this experience, the Bad Boy came back to the ring last April defeating Murad Abdulaev in a close fight.

His opponent, Paul Daley (33-12-2), British knockout artist has fought in the 10 years of his professional career in almost all major MMA promotions, including Strikeforce, Bellator и UFC. Semtex, famous for his quick temper and lethal left hook, has already knocked out 24 fighters, with MMA stars Duane Ludwig, Martin Kampmann, and Scott Smith among them.

Now Daley is on the rise again: he has to his credit 4 wins in a run and a free hand (Daley has recently parted with Bellator). He had his latest fight in Liverpool, having knocked out Lukasz Chlewicki in the first round.

Russian MMA fans will have to wait until November to find out who is more explosive - the Bad Boy or Semtex.