Sergei Kharitonov

Sergei started being interested in sports when he was still in kindergarten, being taught at first by his father. Kharitonov started training boxing seriously when he was ten or eleven years old, following an incident when a drunken adult passer-by broke up a scuffle between Sergei and another boy by lifting Sergei in the air, hitting him in the face and cutting his eyebrow with that punch. The man justified his behavior by saying that Sergei should not have been hitting a grounded opponent.[5]

At the age of sixteen, Kharitonov started studying Combat Sambo. During his studies in the Airborne Troops Academy, Sergei started competing in hand-to-hand combat (simplified form of Combat Sambo) and MMA. After Kharitonov graduated from the Academy, he was contacted by Vladimir Pogodin, the manager of the Russian Top Team, who invited him to join the club. At first, Sergei was invited to be Fedor Emelianenko's sparring partner, who taught him many ground fighting techniques, including striking on the ground and submissions. Sergei kept competing at various Russian MMA competitions, and in October 2003 he debuted in Pride Fighting Championships, one of the top two leading MMA organizations in the world at that time.

Sergei trains with the Russian national boxing and Sambo teams, as well as some freestyle wrestlers. He also recently added Muay Thai training to his regimen, and, according to him, he even borrows some elements from karate.[5]

Sergei Kharitonov trained in Kirieevsk, Russia, under coach Mikhail Illoukhine (Russian: Михаил Илюхин). Ilyukhin chose Kirieevsk as their training base due to a large number of heavyweight MMA fighters available there. According to him, key elements of Sergei's success are his willpower and unpredictability in the ring. As of September 2007 he recently began training with the Golden Glory fight team in the Netherlands.

In addition to competing in MMA and boxing, Sergei competes in Combat Sambo for the Ryazan Desantnik (Paratrooper) club.[4]

Sergei had a successful career as a heavyweight fighter in the Pride Fighting Championships, with an overall Pride record of 8–3–0. As of late 2005, Kharitonov has struggled with ongoing injuries to his upper back and shoulders, evident in his victory against Fabrício Werdum, in which his right shoulder was strained and injured nearly a minute into the bout, and in his loss to Alistair Overeem, where an awkward fall dislocated his shoulder.

Kharitonov lost to Alexander Emelianenko at Pride's Final Conflict Absolute 2006 on September 9, 2006.

Kharitonov scored a win against Mike Russow at PRIDE 33 in Las Vegas on February 24.[6]

On September 17, 2007, Kharitonov TKO's Alistair Overeem in the first round in the Hero's 10: Middleweight Tournament Final event, avenging a previous loss.

Kharitonov's next fight was scheduled to be against Mighty Mo at DREAM 6 on September 23, 2008.[7] However Mighty Mo was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. Jimmy Ambriz was Mighty Mo's replacement. Sergei scored a win in the first round by submission via strikes. At Dream 8 Jeff Monson secured Sergei in a North/South Choke. The Russian tried punching his way out but was soon forced to tap for the first time in his career.

Sergei signed a deal to fight for Strikeforce and made his debut on February 12, 2011. He faced former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in the opening round of Strikeforce 2011 Heavyweight Grand-Prix. Sergei defeated Andrei Arlovski by knockout in the first round. Sergei faced Josh Barnett, who defeated Brett Rogers on June 18, 2011 at Strikeforce: Dallas, in the next round. He lost via submission in the first round.

On June 1, 2012, he submitted John Delgado by keylock at the MMA: Russian Open Championship in St.Petersburg, Russia. Kharitonov has signed with M-1 Global and Oleg Taktarov's Fight Star MMA Promotion and was expected to fight Travis Wiuff in December 2013. This fight did not materialize, but on November 15 of that year Kharitonov faced Alexey Kudin at M-1 Challenge in Surgut, Russia and defeated him by TKO (punches) in the second round.

In his next appearance, Sergei defeated Tyler East via second-round TKO at Tech-Krep Fighting Championship - Prime on March 21, 2014.

Kharitonov was expected to face Satoshi Ishii on November 11, 2014 at M-1 Challenge 53: Battle in the Celestial Empire.[8] However, Ishii withdrew from the bout due to injury.[9] He instead faced Kenny Garner at the event, which took place on November 25, with Kharitonov winning via doctor stoppage in the third round.[10][11]

Kharitonov faced Alexei Kudin on November 15, 2013 at M-1 Challenge 43. He won the fight via TKO in the second round.

Kharitonov beat Kenny Garner at M-1 Challenge 53 on November 25, 2014 via TKO (doctor stoppage) in 3 round.

In the rematch he wins over Kenny Garner again on July 3, 2015 at M-1 Challenge 59 via TKO in the first round.

On February 3, 2016 it was announced that Kharitonov had signed with Bellator.[12] Kharitonov made his debut against Javy Ayala on November 4, 2016 at Bellator 163. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.

Kharitonov faced Chase Gormley at Bellator 175 on March 31, 2017. He won the fight via knockout in the first round.[13]

Kharitonov faced Roy Nelson in the Bellator 207 co-main event on October 12, 2018.[14] He won the fight via knockout in round one.[15]

After the Nelson fight, Kharitonov signed a new multi-fight contract with Bellator and headlined Bellator 215 against Matt Mitrione on February 15, 2019.[16] Unfortunately, the bout ended in a No Contest just 15 seconds into the first round after Mitrione landed an accidental groin strike and Kharitonov was unable to continue.

Kharitonov faced Mitrione in an immediate rematch six months later at Bellator 225 on August 24, 2109. He won the fight via TKO in the second round.

Kharitonov headlined Bellator 234 against Linton Vassell on November 14, 2019.[17] He lost the fight via TKO in the second round.

• 2003 Central Asian Games silver medalist
• 2004 Asian Championships silver medalist
• 2007 Russian Championship silver medalist.

• PRIDE Fighting Championship
  • PRIDE 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-finalist
• Strikeforce
  • Strikeforce 2011 Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-finalist
• Other
  • Tournament of Real Men 8 champion.
  • Brilliant 2 – Yalta's Brilliant 2000 champion.

• W5
  • W5 World Heavyweight Championship

• Six times champion Russian Airborne Troops Hand-to-hand combat fight.
• Russian Airborne Troops Sambo champion.
• Eurasia Combat Sambo champion.
• Three times champion Russian Army combat fight.
• Three times champion Russian combat Hand-to-hand fight.
• World Universal Fight Unifight champion.
• Two times Russian Free Fight champion