Volk Han

Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov (; born 15 April 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 (, ) 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 Zouev 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.

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

Sambo career Magomedkhan was born on 15 April 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 boarding school. 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 switched to 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 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".

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 and occasional shoot fights, Han switched to mixed martial arts when RINGS adopted the King of Kings (KOK) format in 1999, thus fully transitioning to an MMA promotion. By this time, Han was considered past his athletic prime. Despite this, Han amassed an impressive 8–1 record under RINGS KOK rules.

In popular culture Volk Han is credited into bringing martial art Sambo into Japanese popular consciousness. In fighting games, Volk Han's brand of Command Sambo or Commando Sambo is used by various fictional characters, including Blue Mary from SNK's Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series, Bayman from Dead or Alive series and Dragunov from the Tekken series.

Volk Han himself has become a model for many fictitious sambo practitioners in popular media, including Heizo Onikawa from the manga "Tough", Wolf from video game "Battle K-Road" and Preston Ajax from video game Fighting Layer.

Championships and accomplishments Fighting Network Rings 1994 Mega Battle Tournament Winner 1996 Mega Battle Tournament Winner 1995 Mega Battle Tournament Semi-Finalist 1997 Mega Battle Tournament Semi-Finalist Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him #129 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003 Fight Matrix Highest Quarterly Ranking: 7/01/1997, #6 Heavyweight

Mixed martial arts record Volk Han's Mixed Martial Arts record. Draw

Masakatsu Funaki Draw (majority) Rings/The Outsider: Volk Han Retirement Match

Tokyo, Japan Retirement match. Win

Zaza Tkeshelashvili Submission (armlock) Rings Lithuania: Bushido Rings 2

Vilnius, Lithuania RINGS KOK Rules Win

Andrei Kopylov Decision (unanimous) Rings Russia: Russia vs. Bulgaria

Ekaterinburg, Russia RINGS KOK Rules Loss

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira Decision (unanimous) Rings: King of Kings 2000 Final

Tokyo, Japan RINGS KOK Rules Win

Bobby Hoffman Decision (unanimous) Rings: King of Kings 2000 Block B

Osaka, Japan RINGS KOK Rules Win

Lee Hasdell TKO (punches) Rings: King of Kings 2000 Block B

Osaka, Japan RINGS KOK Rules Win

Zaza Tkeshelashvili Submission (guillotine choke) Rings: Russia vs. Georgia

Tula, Russia RINGS KOK Rules Win

Branden Lee Hinkle Submission (triangle armbar) Rings: Millennium Combine 2

Tokyo, Japan RINGS KOK Rules Win

Cvetko Cvetkov Submission (achilles lock) Rings Russia: Russia vs. Bulgaria

Tula, Russia RINGS KOK Rules Win

Yasuhito Namekawa Decision (unanimous) Rings Russia: Russia vs. The World

Yekaterinburg, Russia RINGS KOK Rules Loss

Zaza Tkeshelashvili KO Rings: Rings Georgia

Georgia (country) Loss

Zaza Tkeshelashvili Decision (unanimous) Rings: Rise 4th

Japan Win

Masayuki Naruse Submission (armbar) Rings: Rise 3rd

Japan Win

Nikolai Zuyev Submission (arm-triangle choke) Rings: Final Capture

Japan Loss

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka Submission (injury) Rings: Third Fighting Integration

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Akira Maeda Submission (verbal) Rings: Battle Dimensions Tournament 1997 Final

N/A Loss

Mikhail Ilyukhin

Rings: Battle Dimensions Tournament 1997 Final

Win

Dick Vrij

Rings: Battle Dimensions Tournament 1997 Final

Win

Andrei Kopylov Submission (armlock) Rings – Mega Battle Tournament 1997 Semifinal 1

Japan Loss

Kiyoshi Tamura Submission (armbar) Rings – Extension Fighting 7

Japan Win

Akira Maeda Submission (kneebar) Rings – Extension Fighting 2

Japan Win

Kiyoshi Tamura

Rings – Budokan Hall 1997

Tokyo, Japan Win

Kiyoshi Tamura

Rings – Battle Dimensions Tournament 1996 Final

Win

Tariel Bitsadze

Rings – Battle Dimensions Tournament 1996 Final

Win

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka

Rings – Battle Dimensions Tournament 1996 Final

Win

Masayuki Naruse

Rings – Battle Dimensions Tournament 1996 Opening Round

Win

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka Submission (armbar) Rings – Maelstrom 6

Japan Win

Mitsuya Nagai Submission (rear naked choke) Rings - Maelstrom 4

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Hans Nijman TKO Rings – Budokan Hall 1996

Tokyo, Japan Win

Peter Ura

Rings – Battle Dimensions Tournament 1995 Opening Round

Win

Akira Maeda Submission Rings – Budokan Hall 1995

Tokyo, Japan