Magomedkhan Gamzatkhanov

Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov (russian: Магомедха́н Аманула́евич Гамзатха́нов; born April 15, 1961),
is a Russian retired mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, sambo wrestler and former military officer of Avar descent. Gamzatkhanov is better known by his ringname Volk Han (russian: Волк-хан, ja, ヴォルク・ハン) and is renowned for his technical mastery of sambo.

Gamzatkhanov represented Russia on the Russian Fighting Network RINGS team with Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Kopylov, Nikolai Zuyev and Mikhail Ilyukhin. In the early 1990s Han opened his own martial arts academy, which taught a derivative of combat sambo with special emphasis on flying and spinning joint locks and compression locks applied to upper and lower extremities.https://books.google.fi/books?id=RH-wAAAAIAAJ&q=ヴォルク・ハン&dq=ヴォルク・ハン&hl=fi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiazMu2svD0AhVBlosKHcYZBroQ6AF6BAgDEAI
Bessatsu takarajima Vol 185-187, page 74-82, JICC Shuppankyoku, 1993

During his tenure in RINGS, Han was considered the promotion's top foreign star and impacted the popularity of martial art Sambo's popularity in Japan.
According to MMA ranking system portal Fight Matrix, Magomedkhan Gamzatkhanov is ranked the #10 Heavyweight of 1997.

Sambo career

Magomedkhan was born on April 15, 1961, in the village in the Anchik, Akhvakhsky District of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He is of Karata ethnicity and was the third child in the family.

Gamzatkhanov started training freestyle wrestling while at college. After learning in several teams, his friend Ahmed Sharipov introduced him to the five-time world champion Ali Aliyev, who accepted to train him. Under his tutelage, Gamzatkhanov won the Nalchik regional championship in 1979. He also won the USSR junior championship two years back to back, and placed fourth in the international Aliyev Cup. In 1981, upon beginning his two-year service in the USSR military, Han decided to leave wrestling for sambo, and was immediately scouted by Viktor Lysenko for his team in Tula.

In 1984, Gamzatkhanov attended the Police Academy in Moscow. A year later, he competed in the USSR sambo championship and placed second after losing in the finals to the legendary Alexander Pushnitsa. However, he bounced back by winning the gold medal at the openweight division in 1985, as well as the first place in the USSR championships of 1987 and 1988. He also won the Kalinin international tournament, reserved to the highest practitioners of the sport. In 1991, Gamzatkhanov returned to the USSR championship, but he was again eliminated from the finals, this time by Murat Khasanov.

The same year, he was scouted by Akira Maeda for his professional wrestling promotion Fighting Network RINGS, where he was given the ring name of Volk Han ("Volk" meaning "wolf" and "Han" being short for Magomedkhan).

Professional wrestling career

In 1991, shortly after the launch of the Japanese martial arts group "Rings", he was scouted by Akira Maeda, the presiding officer, and made his debut in Japan at the 4th Rings tournament held on December 7, the same year. In 1992, Han participated in RINGS's ''Mega Battle Tournament'', but he was eliminated on the first round by Akira Maeda. Despite his loss, the match turned him into an instant fan favourite thanks to his spectacular grappling techniques and merry charisma, which saw him becoming one of RINGS's main players. In particular, the speed of drawing into the technique in an instant from the unique interval of the heyday and the high accuracy of the technique made the name as a "rare immovable technician".

In addition to the "Russian wolf" associated with his ring name, he was nicknamed "Magician" because of his unique appearance and submission that was described as "like a magic trick." However, he is also good at magic tricks, and when he appeared in a promotion for "Waratte Iitomo!", He showed himself magic tricks. Other than that, outside the ring, he makes jokes and invites laughter to reporters, showing a different side from the image that seems to be cold in the ring.

The next year, after several wins against names like Chris Dolman, Mitsuya Nagai and Willie Williams, Han took part in the next edition, eliminating Masayuki Naruse in the opening round before falling to teammate Nikolai Zouev in the second. Han and Zouev started a heated feud focused around their sambo backgrounds, and it saw Zouev besting Han again in a special sambo jacket match. 1994 was Han's breakout year, as he won the next edition of the ''Mega Battle Tournament'' by submitting Williams, Maeda and Hans Nijman, as well as getting his revenge against Zouev in a singles match.

After a lesser but notable participation in the 1995 tournament, in which he was eliminated by Maeda in the semifinals, Han won the 1996 iteration by defeating Naruse, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Tariel Bitsadze and Kiyoshi Tamura. Following an elimination from the 1996 to hands of his own apprentice, Mikhail Illyukhin, Han gave his last great tournament participation in the 1999 edition, which was fought in team format. His team, composed by RINGS Russia members Illyukhin, Sergei Sousserov and Han himself, was pitted against RINGS Holland, formed by Joop Kasteel, Hans Nijman and Dick Vrij. Despite their effort, RINGS Russia was eliminated. Han's last professional wrestling match in RINGS was in 2001, facing legendary catch wrestling expert Yoshiaki Fujiwara in a special match that ended in a draw.

Mixed martial arts career

After years competing in shoot style professional wrestling, Han switched to mixed martial arts when RINGS adopted the King of Kings (KOK) format in 1999, thus fully transitioning to an MMA promotion. This decision was very anticipated due to his world class sambo skills. By this time, Han was considered past his athletic prime. Despite this, Han amassed an impressive 8-1 record under RINGS KOK rules.

Following a winning debut against RINGS rookie Yasuhito Namekawa, Volk's skills were proven further against American wrestler and Mark Coleman's teammate Branden Lee Hinkle, 12 years his junior. Although Hinkle was able to take Han down and control him, the Russian grappler locked a tight triangle armbar at the end of the first round and made him tap out. Han got a matchup closer in age and experience against Olympic freestyle alumni Zaza Tkeshelashvili in a special Russia vs Georgia fight, but again Han won by submission with a guillotine choke.

In December, Han took part in the King of Kings tournament, where he was pitted in the first round against RINGS England leader Lee Hasdell