Igor “Lionheart” Svirid

Status: Former ONE Athlete

Former ONE Middleweight World Champion Igor Svirid began training in combat sambo at the age of 19, and proved to be talented in the discipline by winning a national championship. A staunchly loyal martial artist, Svirid has ever only trained at Arnau-RS Team, and credits combat sambo with giving him the skills he required to succeed in the cage.

After making the transition to mixed martial arts, carved his way across Russia, winning nine bouts in a row before signing with ONE Championship. That was where the biggest moment of Svirid’s career arrived, when he knocked out previously-undefeated Brazilian Leandro Ataides to win the inaugural ONE Middleweight World Championship in 2014. The world title bout lasted just 17 seconds – which still stands as the fastest knockout and finish in ONE middleweight history – and was ranked as one of the biggest upsets of the year.

He made his first title defence against Vitaly Bigdash, and the two men exchanged knockdowns and submission attempts over two thrilling rounds, with Bigdash finally prevailing by TKO in one of the best matches ever seen in the ONE cage. Now that he’s a welterweight, Svirid hopes to make the same impact, and has his sights set on capturing the ONE Welterweight World Championship as well.