Dmitrii “The Silent Assassin” Kovtun

Dmitrii “The Silent Assassin” Kovtun was born in west central Russia near the Ural Mountains in Chelyabinsk.

One of six athletic brothers, Kovtun was raised by his Russian mother and Tajik father, who he remembers teaching him how to throw punches and do push-ups by the age of 5.

In fact, his parents always had him enrolled in sports and martial arts, and he eventually earned a green belt in Kyokushin Karate. But when he was 14, his oldest brother took him to a Muay Thai gym and his destiny began to take shape.

After a short stint in the amateur ranks, Kovtun had his first professional fight at 16 in a tournament in Russia. He then competed in 13 more professional bouts, but during that time, he also started experiencing the stresses that come with balancing life and a career in the local Russian Muay Thai scene. Simply put, the sport just wasn’t paying the bills.

So, at 22 years old, Kovtun was forced to split his time between working, training, and competing. Balancing his time became so tough that he thought about quitting Muay Thai, but his will to become the best fighter in the world carried him through.

Kovtun’s life took a hairpin turn in 2024 when ONE Championship came calling, and now that he has the means to carry out his dreams on a global platform, he’s aiming to catapult himself up the bantamweight Muay Thai ranks and win the prestigious divisional crown.