Alexander Sarnavskiy

Alexander Sarnavskiy (Александр Сарнавский, born January 17, 1989) is a Russian mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Sarnavskiy has mostly competed in his native Russia, where he is an M-1 Global veteran and former lightweight division in the Bellator Fighting Championships.

Background
Alexander Sarnavsky was born in 1989 in the village. Gorky (Kazakhstan). In 1998 he moved with his family to Omsk, where his sports career began. The first discipline was kickboxing, which the young man mastered for 2 years at the Lokomotiv club and achieved success in regional competitions. Later, he was attracted by pankration and Alexander switched to hand-to-hand combat and combat sambo at the Saturn-Profi martial arts school. Hobbies grew into a professional approach at the age of 18, when Sarnavsky decided to try his hand at mixed martial arts. He was led to this step by the example of a coach, Alexander Shlemenko.

M-1 Global
After compiling a record of 8–0 (3 submission, 4 KO/TKOs), Sarnavskiy joined M-1 Global to enter their selection tournament. His opening round fight was against Maxim Kuptsov. Midway through the first round, Sarnavskiy caught his opponent in a body triangle and peppered him with punches from behind. He soon went for a rear naked choke, which forced the tapout from Kuptsov.

Sarnavskiy then faced Karen Grigoryan in the next round, defeating him by split decision, advancing him to the final.

Following the win over Grigoryan, Sherdog ranked him as the number one undefeated European prospect in the sport. Around the same time, Sarnavskiy was scheduled to face Artiom Damkovsky at the M-1 Eastern European Finals. The bout was cancelled however and Damkovsky faced a replacement opponent in the final.

Appearing at M-1 Challenge XXI: Guram vs. Garner, Sarnavskiy faced Victor Kuku. Immediately, Sarnavskiy went after Kuku and went for a flying knee. Sarnavskiy's spinning back fist knocked Kuku down, before he hit Kuku with a barrage of punches to claim the knockout win.

Sarnavskiy made his U.S. MMA debut in Norfolk, Virginia on March 25, 2011, on the televised portion of M-1 Challenge: Damkovsky vs. Figueroa. He faced late replacement Beau Baker and won the fight via submission in the second round.

Bellator MMA
On June 19, 2012, Sarnavskiy signed with Bellator, thus terminating the contract with M-1 Global.

Sarnavskiy entered as a participant in the Bellator season seven lightweight tournament. In the opening round, he faced Rich Clementi on October 19, 2012, at Bellator 77. He lost the fight via split decision (29–28, 28–29, 30–26).

Sarnavskiy defeated Tony Hervey on November 30, 2012, at Bellator 82 via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27).

In 2013, Sarnavskiy entered as a participant in the Bellator Season 8 Lightweight tournament. He faced Brazilian Kickboxer Thiago Michel in the quarter-finals on January 31, 2013, at Bellator 87 and won via submission in the second round.

Sarnavskiy was originally scheduled to face David Rickels in the semifinals. However, Sarnavskiy fractured his hand during his first fight and had to withdraw from the tournament.

In the fall of 2013, Sarnavskiy entered the next Lightweight tournament. He faced Marcus Davis on September 27, 2013, at Bellator 101 in the quarterfinals of Bellator's Season Nine Lightweight Tournament. After knocking Davis down with a punch, he took his back and eventually won via a rear naked choke submission.

Sarnavskiy faced Ricardo Tirloni in the semifinals and won via triangle choke in the first round.

Sarnavskiy faced Will Brooks in the finals and lost via unanimous decision.

After nearly a year away from the Bellator cage, Sarnavskiy was expected to face John Gunderson on October 10, 2014, at Bellator 128. However, Gunderson withdrew from the bout and retired from MMA fighting. Derek Campos stepped in as a replacement. An injury forced Campos out of the fight, Sarnavskiy eventually faced promotional newcomer Dakota Cochrane. He won the fight by submission in the first round.

Sarnavskiy faced Marcin Held on April 10, 2015, at Bellator 136. He lost the fight via verbal submission in the third round and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Post-Bellator MMA
Sarnavskiy faced Jesse Ronson on October 3, 2015, at Abu Dhabi Warriors 3. He won via unanimous decision.

Eurasia Fight Nights Global (EFN)
Sarnavskiy faced Murad Machaev on February 26, 2016, at Fight Nights: Battle of Moscow 21. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Sarnavskiy faced Dmitry Bikrev on April 29, 2016, at Fight Nights Global 46. He won the fight via submission in the second round.

Absolute Championship Berkut
Sarnavskiy faced Ustarmagomed Gadzhidaudov on September 17, 2016, at ACB 45: Silva vs. Magomedsharipov. He lost the fight by knockout in the second round.

Sarnavskiy faced Ramazan Esenbaev on December 18, 2016, at ACB 50: Rasulov vs. Goltsov. He won thefight via TKO in the third round.

Sarnavskiy faced Eduard Vartanyan on April 15, 2017, at ACB 57: Payback. He lost the fight via submission in the second round.

Sarnavskiy faced Shamil Nikaev at ACB 80 on February 16, 2018. He lost the bout via split decision.

Bouncing back from the loss, Sarnavskiy knocked out Herdeson Batista on November 10, 2018 at ACB 90.

Sarnavskiy faced Aurel Pirtea on December 14, 2019 at ACA 103. He won the bout, knocking out Aurel in the third round.

In the title fight at ACA 111 on September 29, 2020 for the ACA Lightweight Championship, he lost to the champion Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov by unanimous decision, breaking his arm during the bout.

In his first bout post recovery and title bout loss, Sarnavskiy faced Artem Damkovskiy at ACA 118 on February 26, 2021. He won the bout via rear-naked choke at the end of the first round.

Sarnavskiy faced Rashid Magomedov on September 24, 2021 at ACA 129: Sarnavskiy vs. Magomedov. He won the close bout via split decision.

Sarnavskiy faced Herdeson Batista on May 21, 2022 at ACA 139. He won the bout via TKO stoppage under a minute into the bout.

Post ACA
Sarnavskiy faced Magomed Sulumov on February 23, 2024 at AMC Fight Nights 123 for the AMC Lightweight Championship, despite being hurt in the first round, Sarnavskiy came back to win the title and the bout via rear-naked choke in the third round.

Championships and accomplishments

 * M-1 Global
 * М-1 Selection Eastern Europe Championship 2010.
 * Bellator Fighting Championships
 * Bellator Season 9 Lightweight Tournament Runner-up