Alexander Sarnavskiy
Sarnavsky in 2023
Born	(1989-01-17)January 17, 1989 (age 37) Omsk,Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Other names	Tiger
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st)
Division	Lightweight
Reach	70.5 in (179 cm)[1]
Style	Kickboxing,Hand-to-hand combat
Fighting out of	Lake Forest, California, U.S
Team	RusFighters Sport Club Reign Training Center BJ Penn's MMA Storm Fight School
Trainer	Alexander Shlemenko
Rank	Master of Sport inHTHC
Years active	2008–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	53
Wins	44
By knockout	12
By submission	23
By decision	9
Losses	9
By knockout	1
By submission	2
By decision	6
Other information
Mixed martial arts record fromSherdog

Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russian:Александр Сарнавский, born January 17, 1989) is a Russianmixed martial artist who competes in thelightweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Sarnavskiy has mostly competed in his native Russia, where he is anM-1 Global veteran and former lightweight division in theBellator Fighting Championships.

Alexander Sarnavsky was born in 1989 in the village. Gorky (Kazakhstan). In 1998 he moved with his family to Omsk, where his sports career began. The first discipline was kickboxing, which the young man mastered for 2 years at the Lokomotiv club and achieved success in regional competitions. Later, he was attracted by pankration and Alexander switched to hand-to-hand combat and combat sambo at the Saturn-Profi martial arts school. Hobbies grew into a professional approach at the age of 18, when Sarnavsky decided to try his hand at mixed martial arts. He was led to this step by the example of a coach, Alexander Shlemenko.^[2]

After compiling a record of 8–0 (3 submission, 4 KO/TKOs), Sarnavskiy joinedM-1 Global to enter their selection tournament. His opening round fight was against Maxim Kuptsov. Midway through the first round, Sarnavskiy caught his opponent in a body triangle and peppered him with punches from behind. He soon went for a rear naked choke, which forced the tapout from Kuptsov.^[3]

Sarnavskiy then faced Karen Grigoryan in the next round, defeating him by split decision, advancing him to the final.

Following the win over Grigoryan,Sherdog ranked him as the number one undefeated European prospect in the sport.^[4] Around the same time, Sarnavskiy was scheduled to face Artiom Damkovsky at the M-1 Eastern European Finals.^[5] The bout was cancelled however and Damkovsky faced a replacement opponent in the final.

Appearing atM-1 Challenge XXI: Guram vs. Garner, Sarnavskiy faced Victor Kuku. Immediately, Sarnavskiy went after Kuku and went for a flying knee. Sarnavskiy's spinning back fist knocked Kuku down, before he hit Kuku with a barrage of punches to claim the knockout win.^[6]

Sarnavskiy made hisU.S. MMA debut inNorfolk, Virginia on March 25, 2011, on the televised portion ofM-1 Challenge: Damkovsky vs. Figueroa. He faced late replacement Beau Baker and won the fight via submission in the second round.^[7]

On June 19, 2012, Sarnavskiy signed withBellator, thus terminating the contract withM-1 Global.^[8]

Sarnavskiy entered as a participant in theBellator season seven lightweight tournament. In the opening round, he facedRich Clementi on October 19, 2012, atBellator 77.^[9] He lost the fight via split decision (29–28, 28–29, 30–26).

Sarnavskiy defeatedTony Hervey on November 30, 2012, atBellator 82 via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27).

In 2013, Sarnavskiy entered as a participant in theBellator Season 8 Lightweight tournament. He faced Brazilian KickboxerThiago Michel in the quarter-finals on January 31, 2013, at Bellator 87^[10] and won via submission in the second round.

Sarnavskiy was originally scheduled to faceDavid Rickels in the semifinals. However, Sarnavskiy fractured his hand during his first fight and had to withdraw from the tournament.

In the fall of 2013, Sarnavskiy entered the next Lightweight tournament. He facedMarcus Davis on September 27, 2013, atBellator 101 in the quarterfinals ofBellator's Season Nine Lightweight Tournament. After knocking Davis down with a punch, he took his back and eventually won via a rear naked choke submission.

Sarnavskiy facedRicardo Tirloni in the semifinals and won via triangle choke in the first round.

Sarnavskiy facedWill Brooks in the finals and lost via unanimous decision.

After nearly a year away from the Bellator cage, Sarnavskiy was expected to faceJohn Gunderson on October 10, 2014, atBellator 128.^[11] However, Gunderson withdrew from the bout and retired from MMA fighting.Derek Campos stepped in as a replacement.^[12] An injury forced Campos out of the fight, Sarnavskiy eventually faced promotional newcomerDakota Cochrane.^[13] He won the fight by submission in the first round.

Sarnavskiy facedMarcin Held on April 10, 2015, atBellator 136.^[14]He lost the fight via verbal submission in the third round and was subsequently released from the promotion.^[15]

Sarnavskiy facedJesse Ronson on October 3, 2015, at Abu Dhabi Warriors 3. He won via unanimous decision.^[16]

Sarnavskiy facedMurad Machaev on February 26, 2016, at Fight Nights: Battle of Moscow 21.^[17] He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Sarnavskiy faced Dmitry Bikrev on April 29, 2016, at Fight Nights Global 46. He won the fight via submission in the second round.

Sarnavskiy faced Ustarmagomed Gadzhidaudov on September 17, 2016, atACB 45: Silva vs. Magomedsharipov. He lost the fight by knockout in the second round.

Sarnavskiy faced Ramazan Esenbaev on December 18, 2016, atACB 50: Rasulov vs. Goltsov. He won thefight via TKO in the third round.

Sarnavskiy facedEduard Vartanyan on April 15, 2017, atACB 57: Payback. He lost the fight via submission in the second round.

Sarnavskiy faced Shamil Nikaev atACB 80 on February 16, 2018. He lost the bout via split decision.

Bouncing back from the loss, Sarnavskiy knocked out Herdeson Batista on November 10, 2018, atACB 90.

Sarnavskiy faced Aurel Pirtea on December 14, 2019, atACA 103. He won the bout, knocking out Aurel in the third round.

In the title fight atACA 111 on September 29, 2020, for theACA Lightweight Championship, he lost to the championAbdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov by unanimous decision, breaking his arm during the bout.^[18]

In his first bout post recovery and title bout loss, Sarnavskiy faced Artem Damkovskiy atACA 118 on February 26, 2021. He won the bout via rear-naked choke at the end of the first round.

Sarnavskiy facedRashid Magomedov on September 24, 2021, atACA 129: Sarnavskiy vs. Magomedov. He won the close bout via split decision.^[19]

Sarnavskiy faced Herdeson Batista on May 21, 2022, atACA 139. He won the bout via TKO stoppage under a minute into the bout.^[20]

Sarnavskiy faced Magomed Sulumov on February 23, 2024, at AMC Fight Nights 123 for theAMC Lightweight Championship, despite being hurt in the first round, Sarnavskiy came back to win the title and the bout via rear-naked choke in the third round.^[21]

• M-1 Global
  • М-1 Selection Eastern Europe Championship 2010.
• Bellator Fighting Championships
  • Bellator Season 9 Lightweight Tournament Runner-up

• List of male mixed martial artists
• List of current Bellator fighters

• Professional MMA record for Alexander Sarnavskiy fromSherdog

• 1989 births
• Living people
• Lightweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing ARB
• Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai
• Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• Russian male mixed martial artists
• Russian male Muay Thai practitioners
• Russian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• Martial artists from Omsk
• 21st-century Russian sportsmen

• CS1 Russian-language sources (ru)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2025
• Articles containing Russian-language text