Sherdog Prospect Watch: Artem Belakh

Flying knee KO. Artem Belakh KO1 Gor Khalatyan - RCC Intro 4. Good morning from Russia. pic.twitter.com/y0g20r3bxT

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 8, 2019

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One Championship keeps expanding its roster with the addition of another interesting Russian prospect in Artem Belakh. Fighting out of Krasnodar, Russia, Belakh joins One’s bantamweight division, whose limit is set at 145 pounds. The Russian submission specialist boasts an 8-1 record and a 100% finishing rate. None of Belakh’s fights has gone the distance, preferring to pass out rather than tapping in his only defeat, a technical submission due to an arm-triangle choke by Dmitry Babkin at RCC - Intro 10 in November 2020. Belakh, who is currently riding a two-bout win streak, will make his promotional debut against Leandro Issa in the ONE 162 lead card feature clash.



While most of his victories have come on the canvas, Belakh is also dangerous with his striking. In fact, the Russian often allows himself to be put on his back, since he is very confident in his submission skills. Additionally, he can be very versatile, pulling out guillotine and triangle chokes effortlessly. He also possesses a killer instinct on the feet, as demonstrated when he scored a highlight-reel knockout victory with an unorthodox flying knee at the expense of Gor Halatyan at RCC Intro 4 in May 2019. Belakh is polishing his striking skills at Tiger Muay Thai, where he has been seen training with former Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Petr Yan.

Mata leon de ArtemBelakh #OFC6 pic.twitter.com/Um7NRpwvwp

— Barrele la pierna (@Barrelelapierna) July 4, 2021

Belakh made his professional debut at the National Championship 23 event of Rostov Region Pankration Federation, where he forced Alexey Golubyatnikov to tap to a guillotine choke. Belakh spent most of his career in the Russian Cagefighting Championship, where he amassed a 3-1 promotional record. Before suffering the submission loss to Babkin, Belakh was on a six-fight winning streak. In his latest appearances, he overcame Elvis Batista da Silva thanks to his first rear-naked choke finish before choking Nikita Baltabaev. Now, he’s ready to showcase his impressive grappling skills inside One’s Circle.