Igor Vovchanchyn
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Igor Vovchanchyn Ігор Вовчанчин |
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| Born |
August 6, 1973 Zolochiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Native name | Ігор Вовчанчин |
| Other names | "Ice Cold", "Ukraine Freight Train", "North Weapon" |
| Nationality | Ukrainian |
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Weight | 235 lb (107 kg; 16 st 11 lb) |
| Division |
Light Heavyweight Heavyweight |
| Reach | 68.0 in (173 cm) |
| Style | Kickboxing, Sambo |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Fighting out of | Kharkiv, Ukraine |
| Team | Team Vovchanchyn |
| Years active | 1995-2005 (MMA) |
| Kickboxing record | |
| Total | 63 |
| Wins | 61 |
| By knockout | 48 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 71 |
| Wins | 59 |
| By knockout | 41 |
| By submission | 10 |
| By decision | 8 |
| Losses | 10 |
| By knockout | 1 |
| By submission | 6 |
| By decision | 3 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 1 |
| Other information | |
| Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |
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Igor Yaroslavovych Vovchanchyn (Ukrainian: Ігор Ярославович Вовчанчин; born August 6, 1973) is a retired Ukrainian mixed martial artist and kickboxer. After making his professional MMA debut in 1995, he won nine mixed martial arts tournaments, 3 superfights, holds the second longest unbeaten streak in MMA (at 37 fights), has the 6th most wins in MMA (61), and reached the final of the PRIDE 2000 Openweight Grand Prix. He is widely considered an MMA legend, and in Ukraine he even has a tournament named after him, the Igor Vovchanchyn Cup.
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.
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.
He then fought a month later in a 32-man tournament, performing impressively at the inaugural International Absolute Fighting Council event in Russia, where he TKO'd Sergei Akinen before defeating Adilson Lima, a Gracie Jiu Jitsu black belt who trained with Ryan Gracie. Vovchanchyn won by knockout via soccer kick 56 seconds into the fight, but Lima's cornerman (Renzo Gracie) argued to the tournament organisers, complaining that kicks to a downed opponent were unfair and demanded an instant rematch. Unusually, an immediate rematch was granted, and the fight began again only to be stopped a second time after Lima's nose was broken by a punch, giving Vovchanchyn the win by TKO. Vovchanchyn would advance to the quarterfinal, where he would be finally submitted by Russian sambo champion Mikhail Ilyukhin.
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