PATREON: Igor Vovchanchyn - Mr. Powerman 1996
“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.
No Russian Top Team members would threaten the Ukrainian’s eyes in the Mr. Powerman tournament, although Vovchanchyn was at least familiar with one of these fighters: his compatriot Sergei Bondarovich.
Mr. Powerman SEKEI
Vovchanchyn first faced off with Sergei Bondarovich in his second pro bout back in 1995. As per the above, Bondarovich was apparently a Jiu-Jitsu stylist, be it Japanese or Brazilian. (I do not know, although his fight record shows he had victories via armbar and RNC in his 4-6 final career record.) Regardless of his skill level, his grappling prowess did not help him one bit when he first fought Igor.
The bout resembles a child trying to tussle with an abusive stepfather: it is brief, violent, and horrific, even to a hardened combat sports fan.
It also shows how Vovchanchyn’s brand of fighting. He was a legitimately skilled kickboxer, rather than hokey-dojo fighter, and— aside from the burgeoning list of sambists in Russian Top Team.—it likely would have set him apart on the developing European regional scene.
Such as the fight scene in Belarus.
Sometimes translated as ‘Mr. Strong Man’, this event between fighters from two former Soviet States was held in Minsk in January 1996. Staged by apparent ‘Sensei’ Bumata Matatatsu and with several qualifying tournaments held first to decide who the Belarusian representatives would be, this was held under the ‘standard’—for lack of a better term—no holds barred rules: no eye-gouging, no attacks to the inside of the mouth, as well as no biting. No cages or ropes would contain the combatants for this tournament, and no rounds or time limits were to imposed on the fighters, amongst them seven Belarusians and three Ukrainians.
As per the early UFC events, this was a style-versus-style event, and these were apparently the fighters:
Vovchanchyn fought three times in this tournament.
First up was Nikolai Yatsuk, an apparent Kenpo stylist from Belarus.
Who really knows that Yatsuk was trying to do, but his dojo-skills didn’t set him in good stead here: whilst he appears to be well-conditioned and have some semblance of an idea what he is doing, he doesn’t take an appropriate stance from the get-go. He squares up, and Vovchanchyn quickly attacks his lead leg with a low kick then goes high with a right high kick. This is a southpaw who has no idea to maximize any advantages he may have. He hasn’t taken a knife to a gun fight; he’s taken a wooden spoon off to do battle with a howitzer.
Yatsuk winds up a rear leg kick and attacks Vovchanchyn down low, but the Ukrainian power puncher doesn’t seem too concerned and allows it. This is of course no-holds barred fighting but Yatsuk doesn’t try to follow up his naked leg kicks: they are merely a means of keeping Igor away from him. He looks petrified of the barrel-chested Ukrainian import walking him down.
It seems that Yatsuk is only capable of putting all of his efforts into shots with no set-up, as he puts a lot of force into a straight lead hand shot which Vovchanchyn easily slips outside of, whacking him with a right hook-cum-clothesline which sends the hapless Belarus-man flat onto his back. A sweet walk-off kayo. Vovchanchyn was a badass, but he wasn’t cruel.
Next up, Vovchanchyn’s old foe Sergei Bondarovich. This time round, Bondarovich wisely tried to stay away from Igor, mistaking holding his lead hand straight out as acceptable defence.
A slight circling of his right hand is either the most lackadaisical attempt at feinting I’ve ever seen, or some snake-charming tactic I haven’t seen before. Igor tests him with a rear low kick before switching into southpaw stance and continuing to stalk yet another clearly terrified opponent. Igor switches back to orthodox after attempting what appears to be an oblique kick, with Bondarovich—showing common sense and some skill at least—checks.
To his credit, Vovchanchyn shows some smarts: Feinting with his lead hand that he’s trying to bat down his opponent’s for an opening, he then shoots it straight out. What appears to be a power jab is more a strong lead straight, the kind you see in books about Jem Mace’s days, a real bareknuckle boxing shot.
Plucky Sergei gets back to his feet (allowed to by Vovchanchyn, who clearly fancies his chances standing) and changes to a portsider, perhaps hopeful that he can avoid that sharp left handed jolt again. Vovchanchyn obliges him, cracking him with a right high kick and ending the fight.
Tikunov tries to talk his way out of his opponent’s mouth injury (it worked and he met Vovchanchyn in the final!)
Although the rules beforehand called for the prohibition of the same ‘holds’ the UFC banned at the time, Igor’s fellow finalist Roman Tikunov, a 20-year old Kenpo fighter from Minsk, got through to the final via virtue of ‘tearing his opponents mouth’ (3).
Tikunov, at the very least, showed Igor respect, bowing to him as they made their way to the centre of the circle.
A southpaw in Karate pants, Tikunov at least appeared a more natural fighter than Igor’s two prior opponents. On tape, he seems looser, bouncing on the balls of his feet and being more proactive with his feints (however useless they were). He offered something in the way of upper body movement, and attempted to dance around like a boxer.
Vovchanchyn measured him the same he usually did: strong low kicks, reactive head movement, and a probing lead hand to measure the distance and try and force openings. Even against such a low-skilled opponent, Vovchanchyn assimilated data and spat out carefully calculated violence.
Back to that opening quote:
“One should be able to think strategically and logically, possess firmness, be cold-blooded and patient.” (4)
‘Ice Cold’ need not be patient for long: Tikunov gave him data to process, an exaggerated front shoulder feint barely disguising a wild and ragged kick. Vovchanchyn threatened to change levels, dipping at the waist, looking for a reaction. A front kick from the hometown fighter got a generous smattering of applause: whether simply due to the attempt (it missed) or the fact their man had not yet been destroyed, we will never know.
The Belarus representative halfheartedly feinted with his lead hand before throwing a haymaker of a right cross from far out, and was lucky not to get taken down by a single leg from Vovchanchyn, who saw it coming a mile off. To his credit, Tikunov was showing defensive awareness himself, slipping a kick attempt and circling back out to center ring.
Vovchanchyn changed tact: lunging in with a wide left hook that landed high on his opponent’s head, getting a reaction from his legs. Once he had him concerned about the left hand, the right was easier to land.
However, Tikunov made it much easier for him. Rather than espousing the same fighting philosophies Vovchanchyn did, he lost patience and gave up on his stalling tactics, rushing forward with spastic movements and wild right hands, chin in the air.
You guessed it: Overhand right, fight over.
After the fight, Vovchanchyn said, with a mix of respect and perhaps a subconsciously condescending attitude to these dojo fighters:
(Main) Igor and Tikunov after the fight (Inset) Igor finishes off his opponent in the final
“Right, I’m a bit winded (laughs). I’ll just say one thing: My opponent was okay! (Laughs). I mean all these guys have prepared well for their fights. The most important thing is that they showed up. This is what matters, that they actually had the courage to do it” (5).
Coming into the tournament off a painful-looking loss, ’Mr Powerman SEKAI’ then was the start of Igor Vovchanchyn’s ferocious prime: for the rest of 1996 he would go a staggering 11-0. His record for 1996: a highly impressive 14-0 with 12 KOs and two submissions, truly an old school boxing schedule.
In March alone—two months after he dominated in Belarus—Vovchanchyn would fight in three one-night tournaments alone, most notably beating UFC vet Paul Varelans. Varelans wasn’t the only 300lb plus fighter Vovchanchyn beat in this run, the near-400lb Fred ‘The Mangler’ Floyd also succumbing to his knockout power (see main article photo).
His prime would continue over the following three years, as Vovchanchyn developed into a formidable sprawler with a patient defensive approach on the mat to allow himself to wreck as much havoc on the feet as was humanly possible: 38 fights unbeaten in all, culminating in a loss to Mark Coleman in the 2000 Pride FC openweight tournament, an unfortunate result that, if reversed, might have seen ‘Ice Cold’ cement his reputation as one of MMA’s all-time greats.
As it stands, he will have to settle for being one of the all-time scariest dudes to ever step foot in the ring or cage. In the case of the 1996 ‘Mr Strong Man’ tournament, he didn’t even need a ring or a cage to wreck havoc. Watch the fights, and see where Igor Vovchanchyn’s prime really started.
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(1) Igor Vovchanchyn, The King of Fighting — Daniel DiMarzio, The Winds of Japan Shop, 2019
(2) Brawl: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Mixed Martial Arts Competition — Erich Krauss, ECW Press, 2002
(3) https://clever-geek.github.io/articles/1514174/index.html
(4) M-1 Interview with Igor Vovchanchyn - https://www.mixedmartialarts.com/forums/UnderGround/IGOR-VOVCHANCHYN-INTERVIEW-PART-II:1461949
(5) Translation provided by Iggy Schekelburger (@chunguskhan03)
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