Artem Vakhitov


Artem Olegovich Vakhitov is a Russian Muay Thai kickboxer who competes in the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. Having begun practicing Muay Thai at eleven years old, Vakhitov first came to prominence due to a successful amateur career by winning four IFMA European and three world championships as well as taking silver at the World Combat Games in 2010 and gold in 2013. He turned professional in 2009, and signed with Glory in 2013 after becoming the WMC European Super Light Heavyweight Champion. He is currently ranked the #1 light heavyweight in the world by LiverKick.com, Combat Press and GLORY. Vakhitov is the current Glory Light Heavyweight Champion.

Early life

Artem Vakhitov was born in Prokopyevsk on April 4, 1991 and began basic martial arts training under his father's tutelage at the age of five years before going on to study karate at the age of six, which he practiced for five years. He was forced to give up karate aged eleven when he and his family moved to another part of the city, but he soon found the Kuzbass Muay Thai gym where he is trained by Vitaly Miller and is a training partner of Artem Levin. Vakhitov holds the classification of Master of Sports in muay Thai, and is also a classically trained musician.

Career

Amateur career (2008–2013)

Vakhitov first came to prominence when he won the IFMA Russian Championships in 2008 aged seventeen. Following this, he would go on to win the Russian Championships four more times, the European Championships four times and the World Championships three times.
He also won a silver medal in the -81 kg/178 lb division at the 2010 World Combat Games, held in Beijing, China between August 28 and September 4, 2010. After taking unanimous decision wins over Kim Olsen and Nurbolat Sengirov in the quarter-finals and semis, respectively, he then lost to Simon Marcus by split decision in the final.
Competing in the -91 kg/200 lb division at the 2013 World Combat Games in Saint Petersburg, Russia between October 18 and 26, 2013, Vakhitov outpointed Dzianis Hancharonak in the quarters, TKO'd Thomas Alizier and knocked out Emidio Barone with a knee in the final to take the gold medal.

Turning professional (2009–2013)

In his first outing as a professional, Vakhitov competed in the Souboj Titánů tournament in Plzeň, Czech Republic on November 21, 2009 and made it to the final where he faced Jiří Žák. The bout was ruled a draw after the regulation three rounds and so it went to an extension round to decide the winner, after which Žák took the judges' decision.
The following year, he entered the Tatneft Cup 2010 at -80 kg/176 lb. After beating Saiseelek Nor-Seepun in the opening round on January 31, 2010 and Yordan Yankov in the quarter-finals on April 30, 2010, both by unanimous decision, Vakhitov then exited the competition when he was defeated by his longtime teammate Artem Levin in the semi-finals on July 29, 2010, retiring in his corner at the end of the third round. He then re-entered the tournament, however, when Levin was unable to fight Alexander Stetsurenko in the final due to injury and Vakhitov was selected as his replacement. In a close match on October 20, 2010, Vakhitov took Stetsurenko into an extension round before losing by UD.
Having signed with the short-lived Muaythai Premier League, Vakhitov made his promotional debut on September 2, 2011 at Muaythai Premier League: Stars and Stripes in Long Beach, California, United States where he rematched Simon Marcus. It was a closely contested affair but Marcus edged ahead by successfully scoring from the clinch with elbows and knees on various occasions to win a unanimous decision. He faced another familiar foe in his sophomore MPL appearance, taking on Jiří Žák at Muaythai Premier League: Blood and Steel in The Hague, Netherlands on November 6, 2011. He avenged his earlier loss to the Czech by winning via unanimous decision.
On December 2, 2011, Vakhitov won his first title as a professional, defeating Vando Cabral via TKO due to a cut caused by an elbow in round three at Battle of Champions 6 in Moscow, Russia to become the WMC European Super Light Heavyweight Champion.
He was set to replace Artem Levin in a fight with Joe Schilling for the WBC Muaythai Interim World Light Heavyweight Championship at Battle for the Belts in Bangkok, Thailand on June 9, 2012. He withdrew from the bout, however, after conceding that he would be unable to meet the -79.3 kg/175 lb weight limit and his place was taken by Karapet Karapetyan.
Continuing to move up in weight, Vakhitov beat Alexander Oleynik on points in a -91 kg/200 lb bout at the Alpha Cup in Moscow on May 18, 2013. It was the third meeting between the pair, with Vakhitov defeating Oleynik twice previously in the amateur ranks.

Glory (2013–present)

Vakhitov signed with Glory shortly after, as a competitor in the kickboxing organization's -95 kg/209 lb light heavyweight division. He gave an impressive performance in his first fight under the Glory banner, scoring an early knockdown over Luis Tavares before finishing him with a liver shot just over a minute into the first round at ' in New York City, New York, US on June 22, 2013.
He defeated fellow amateur standout Nenad Pagonis by unanimous decision at ' in New York City on November 23, 2013.
Vakhitov defeated Igor Jurković via UD at in Broomfield, Colorado, US on May 3, 2014. He rematched Dzianis Hancharonak at Monte Carlo Fighting Masters 2014 in Monte Carlo, Monaco on June 14, 2014, winning by unanimous decision and taking the vacant WMC World Heavyweight Championship.
He was expected to fight against Andrei Stoica at on April 3, 2014. The Romanian withdrew for undisclosed reasons, however, and was replaced by Saulo Cavalari. Vakhitov lost the fight by split decision.
Vakhitov returned at against Danyo Ilunga and won the fight by unanimous decision and won the opportunity to re-match Saulo Cavalari for the Glory Light Heavyweight championship.
Vakhitov successfully re-matched and defeated Saulo Cavalari by unanimous decision at and won the Glory Light Heavyweight championship.
It was announced that Vakhitov would fight light heavyweight title contender Zack Mwekassa at in France. Vakhitov successfully defended his championship and stopped Mwekassa by knocking him down three times; declaring Vakhitov the winner by tko.
As his second title defense, Vakhitov was scheduled to rematch Saulo Cavalari at and dominated the fight, winning by tko in the second round.
Vakhitov fought and successfully defended his Light Heavyweight championship against Brazilian contender, Ariel Machado at. Vakhitov knocked Machado down in the second round with a head kick, but after beating the 10 count, Vakhitov continued to beat Machado and won the fight by unanimous decision.
It was announced that Vakhitov would re-match former opponent Danyo Ilunga at which will mark Vakhitov's fourth title fight in Glory.

Championships and awards

Kickboxing