Blagoy
Ivanov’s eventful career and remarkable life, which included a
brush with death in a near-fatal stabbing more than a decade ago,
now have him positioned as a serviceable heavyweight gatekeeper in
the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. There are worse ways to make a
living.
The 36-year-old Bulgarian will lock horns with
Alexander
Romanov as part of the
UFC on ESPN 48 undercard this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas, where he seeks to avoid back-to-back defeats for just the
second time as a pro. Ivanov has lost three of his past four bouts.
He last competed at UFC Fight Night 218, where he wound up on the
wrong side of a unanimous decision against former
M-1 Global
champion
Marcin
Tybura in their three-round encounter on Feb. 4.
As Ivanov closes in on his forthcoming clash with the twice-beaten
Romanov, a look at some of the rivalries that have helped chart his
course to this point:
The former
Bellator
MMA champion turned away Ivanov with a second-round rear-naked
choke, as their Season 10 heavyweight tournament final helped
anchor Bellator 120 on May 17, 2014 at the Landers Center in
Southaven, Mississippi. Volkov finished it 68 seconds into Round 2.
Ivanov executed his gameplan through much of the first five
minutes, as he punched his way into clinches and landed clubbing
punches off the breaks. However, Volkov seemed to turn the corner
towards the end of Round 1, and the previously unbeaten Bulgarian
began to fatigue. In the second round, the Russian countered a
failed takedown from Ivanov, transitioned to his back and cinched
the tournament-clinching choke. It was Volkov’s first submission
win in nearly four years.
Ivanov walked into hostile territory and captured the
World Series of Fighting heavyweight crown when he dethroned
“The Prince” with a standing guillotine choke in the third round of
their WSOF 21 co-main event on June 5, 2015 at the Edmonton Expo
Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. Rama conceded defeat 1:17 into Round
3. Ivanov caught a body kick from the Canadian and countered with a
takedown in the first round, opened a gash beneath Rama’s left eye
with a clubbing right hand in the second and made his move in the
third. There, the 2008 World Sambo Championships gold medalist let
his heavy hands go, and they produced the desired results. He
dropped Rama to his knees with a clean left hook and grabbed the
guillotine when he attempted to return to his feet. With the choke
in place, Ivanov cranked and briefly lifted his counterpart off his
feet. The tapout was immediate.
The notoriously resilient Ivanaov was the better man in what
amounted to a war of attrition, as he laid claim to a unanimous
decision over “Bam Bam” in their three-round UFC 238 heavyweight
showcase on June 8, 2019 at the United Center in Chicago. Scores
were 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27. Both men elected to throw caution to
the wind, but Ivanov landed the cleaner, more telling blows. He
decked Tuivasa with a right hand behind the ear in the first round
and beat him to the punch for much of the 15-minute bout. Ivanov
also mixed in a pair of takedowns and threatened the Australian
with standing guillotine chokes along the fence on more than one
occasion. Tuivasa had his moments—he staggered the Bulgarian with a
left hand in the second round and took a bite out of the inside of
his lead leg with repeated kicks in the third—but came up short
where it mattered most.
Ferocious bursts of power punches carried “The Black Beast” to a
contentious split decision over Ivanov in their featured UFC 244
attraction on Nov. 2, 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
More than 20,000 fans were there to witness, their interest
undoubtedly spurred by the
Jorge
Masvidal-
Nate Diaz main
event for the BMF title. Judge Eric Colon saw it 29-28 for Ivanov,
while Dave Tirelli and Chris Lee struck 29-28 and 30-27 scorecards
for Lewis. Ivanov twice executed takedowns and advanced to side
mount, only to surrender his advantageous positions with failed
bids for keylocks. Lewis also withstood other submission attempts,
fought through fatigue and blasted the iron-chinned sambo stylist
with straight right hands, uppercuts and the occasional knee.
Though he surrendered more than three minutes of control time to
Ivanov, the New Orleans native outpaced him 31-20 in terms of
significant strikes landed.