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Alexei Blagonadezhdin || Blago’s MMA Collection || Коллекция ММА

@blagosmmavault

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Dedicated to bringing cool memorabilia from the MMA Shows of the past to light, and showing respect to the pioneers of the sport! Run by @alexei_blago

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Hello! My name is Alexei Blagonadezhdin, and I will be sharing some cool stuff from my personal collection of old-school MMA memorabilia, along with the history of the events these pieces of memorabilia came from. I myself have been training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since 2011, and enjoy learning all there is about martial arts history. Not many people my age know too much about the history of the No-Holds-Barred, or Vale Tudo era of MMA, so I will do my best to honor the pioneers of this sport, and show the history of Mixed Martial Arts through cool pieces of memorabilia! Stay Tuned! by @blagosmmavault

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3 years ago

PRIDE.29: SURVIVAL Official Event Poster 🦈✨ This is the official event poster for PRIDE.29: Survival, held on February 20, 2005, at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, drawing an impressive 22,047 fans. This card was absolutely stacked with some of the biggest names from PRIDE’s golden era! An ocean full of sharks, hence the poster’s design!

The main event featured Mirko Cro Cop vs. former UFC Heavyweight Champion Mark Coleman. Coleman was looking to avenge his teammate Kevin Randleman’s loss to Cro Cop, but Mirko dominated the fight and stopped Coleman with punches at 3:42 of the first round!

Another awesome fight was Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Murilo “Ninja”, with Rampage picking up a split decision victory. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira also defeated a young Alistair Overeem by unanimous decision after three rounds.

This event also featured the PRIDE debut of future UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabrício Werdum, who submitted Tom Erikson in the first round. Mauricio “Shogun”, Igor Vovchanchyn, Sergei Kharitonov, and Kazuhiro Nakamura all picked up impressive first-round finishes!

PRIDE.29 was an amazing event in an important time in PRIDE’s history, right before the legendary 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix which crowned Mauricio “Shogun” as the new Champion. Definitely one of those cards that shows just how stacked the PRIDE roster was at the time. I’d definitely watch this one! You can find this event on YouTube.Respect the pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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5 hours ago

UFC 30: BATTLE ON THE BOARDWALK Official Event Poster ✨ This is the official event poster for UFC 30, held on February 23, 2001, at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was a historic event for the UFC, as it marked the promotion’s first show under its new owners, Zuffa, LLC, and Dana White as the new President!

The main event saw UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz defend his title against the late Evan Tanner, knocking him out with a brutal slam in just 30 seconds! The co-main event featured Jens Pulver defeating Caol Uno by unanimous decision to become the inaugural UFC Lightweight Champion.

Another awesome fight was Pedro Rizzo vs. future UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett, with Rizzo knocking Barnett out in the second round. Elvis Sinosic also pulled off a big upset, submitting Jeremy Horn with a triangle armbar in the first round.

This card also featured the UFC debuts of Phil Baroni and Sean Sherk, who both picked up victories. UFC 30 was an amazing event at the beginning of the Zuffa era, when the promotion was still relatively small and MMA was just beginning to gain mainstream recognition in the United States. Definitely an important piece of MMA history. I’d definitely give this a watch, and you can find it on YouTube! Respect the pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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5 hours ago

U-JAPAN ‘96 Super Fighting Vol.1 OFFICIAL EVENT POSTER || Well fellas, we finally got one! This is the official poster for the U-JAPAN 1996 Super-Fighting Vol, and it is even autographed by Dan Severn & Don Frye! I’ve been looking for one of these for almost 6 years.. and only found out what it really looks like not too long ago! According to the previous owner, it was given to a woman who used to work in the MMA promoting business back in the 1990’s and was part of her collection of souvenirs and MMA keepsakes, and now it’s part of my growing collection/museum of MMA history! Given that it still has Super Vader on it while the event poster has Bam Bam, (who filled in for Vader), this one is quite rare! Now to find the fight pass for a complete U-Japan set! (Until some other mystery memorabilia pops up that I never knew existed lol) I would definitely watch this one! You can find the full VHS recording on Internet Archive and YouTube, and even the SamuraiTV broadcast with some cool outside the stadium footage! Respect the Pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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5 days ago

RICKSON GRACIE SIGNED “Vale Tudo Japan” Picture || This has been a dream of mine for a long time, and now I finally own a personally autographed picture of one of the most legendary fighters of all time, Rickson Gracie! His strategy during his fights is always inspiring, and that calm, collected approach to a dangerous opponent is what won him his fights, and undefeated Vale Tudo and MMA record! I would watch any of his fights! From Rei Zulu to Masakatsu Funaki! A big thank you to Rickson for autographing this amazing photo! Respect the pioneers! - Alexei taken in Osprey, Florida by @blagosmmavault

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7 days ago

PANCRASE: EYES OF BEAST 5 Official Event Poster ✨ This is the official event poster for Pancrase: Eyes of Beast 5, held on June 13, 1995, at Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center in Sapporo, Japan. This card is another awesome example of just how stacked Pancrase was during the mid-1990s, featuring several fighters who would become legends of Japanese MMA.

In the main event, Pancrase co-founder Minoru Suzuki faced Australian-Greek fighter Larry Papadopoulos, submitting him with a rear-naked choke at 8:34. Frank Shamrock also picked up an awesome rear-naked-choke victory, picking that win up Takaku Fuke at 8:16.

Bas Rutten continued his legendary rise through Pancrase with an incredibly quick victory over Jason DeLucia, submitting him with a toe hold in only 1:32. He went from a Dutch Kickboxer to a submission specialist in a matter of several years! Fellow Pancrase co-founder Masakatsu Funaki was also in the win column, submitting Australia’s Gregory Smit with an Achilles lock at 7:30.

One of the stranger finishes of the night came when Katsuomi Inagaki defeated Toon Stelling by disqualification after an eye gouge. Manabu Yamada submitted future UFC, PRIDE and King of Pancrase veteran Vernon White with a kneebar, while Takafumi Ito defeated Osami Shibuya by decision after 10 minutes.

PANCRASE: EYES OF BEAST 5 is a great snapshot of Pancrase in 1995, when fighters like Suzuki, Funaki, Rutten, and Shamrock were helping shape the early Japanese MMA scene. The combination of submission wrestling, striking, and Pancrase’s interesting ruleset made these early events truly unique! You can find this event on YouTube! I would, however watch Bas’ fight with his own commentary on his YouTube channel! Respect the pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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24 days ago

RINGS WORLD TITLE SERIES 1 Official Event Poster ✨ This is the official event poster for RINGS: World Title Series 1, held on April 20, 2001, at Yoyogi National Stadium Gymnasium No. 2 in Tokyo, Japan. This card featured a really interesting mix of established RINGS veterans and fighters who would go on to become some of the biggest names in MMA. It also began an era focused on the standard Weight Category belt in RINGS, with new Middle-weight and Heavy-weight championship title belts, both handmade! This would be alongside the already existing MEGA-BATTLE belt.
The biggest name looking back at this event is of course Fedor Emelianenko, still very early in his professional career. Fedor faced American heavyweight Kerry Schall and submitted him with an armbar in the first round. This was only Fedor’s seventh professional MMA fight, 2 years before he would become PRIDE Heavyweight Champion and one of the greatest heavyweights in MMA history!

In the main event, Brazilian fighter Gustavo “Ximu” Machado pulled off a big win over RINGS legend Kiyoshi Tamura, defeating him by majority decision after two rounds. Bobby Hoffman also defeated longtime Japanese MMA veteran Ryushi Yanagisawa by unanimous decision.

Another future MMA legend, Jeremy Horn, was on the card, submitting Yuri Bekichev with an arm-triangle choke just 50 seconds into the opening round. Yasuhito Namekawa submitted Hiroshi Imamura with a kneebar, while Jiro Wakabayashi and Naoyuki Kotani fought to a draw.

RINGS World Title Series 1 is another awesome snapshot of the transition period in Japanese MMA in the beginning of the 2000’s! It now had the old generation of RINGS fighters sharing the card with guys like Fedor who were about to become major figures in the sport. Respect the pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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24 days ago

K-1 REVENGE 1996 Official Event Poster ✨ This is the official event poster for K-1 REVENGE 1996, an absolutely stacked card featuring some of the greatest names from K-1’s golden era. The event was headlined by a highly anticipated “Revenge” rematch between Peter Aerts and the Late Mike Bernardo, continuing one of the most memorable rivalries of 1990s kickboxing.

The main event was Mike Bernardo vs. Peter Aerts, with Bernardo looking to prove that his previous victory over the Dutch superstar wasn’t by chance. Unfortunately, the revenge fight ended under weird circumstances when Aerts was disqualified after a groin shot at 2 minutes and 20 seconds of the first round, giving Bernardo another victory over Aerts!

The weirdness didn’t stop there! Sam Greco vs. Akio Mori ended in a no contest after Mori fell out of the ring only 22 seconds into the third round. Meanwhile, K-1 Grand Prix 1996 champion Andy Hug scored a second-round knockout over Australian kickboxing legend Stan “The Man” Longinidis. “Mr. Perfect” Ernesto Hoost would stop Carl Barnardo just 20 seconds into the second round, while Jérôme Le Banner knocked out Takeru Taisei in the fourth. Jason Suttie defeated Ivan Hippolyte by unanimous decision, and longtime fighting veteran Nobuaki Kakuda picked up a decision victory over UFC 1 & 9 veteran and the man who beat up Frank Dux, Zane Frazier.

The lighter-weight fights were awesome too, with Sakmongkol defeating Marino Deflorin and Taiei Kin defeating Wanlop Sor Sarthaphan, both by unanimous decisions.

K-1 REVENGE 1996 really shows just how absolutely loaded K-1 cards could be during the 1990s.. Peter Aerts, Mike Bernardo, Andy Hug, Ernesto Hoost, Jérôme Le Banner, Sam Greco, and Stan The Man all fighting on the same night! Definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in the golden age of Japanese kickboxing. You can find it on YouTube! Respect the pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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a month ago

BATTLECADE EXTREME FIGHTING 3 Official Event Poster ✨ This is the official event poster for Battlecade Extreme Fighting 3, held on October 18, 1996, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Extreme Fighting may have been a short-lived promotion, but this card was absolutely stacked with fighters who would become important names in MMA, Vale Tudo, and submission fighting in general!

The biggest fight of the night was Maurice Smith vs. Marcus “Conan” Silveira for the Extreme Fighting Heavyweight Championship. Smith, already an accomplished kickboxer, defeated Silveira by TKO to capture the title. He would later make history in the UFC by defeating Mark Coleman in a huge upset for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 14!

The night opened up with Pancrase veteran Todd Bjornethun vs. UFC veteran Rudyard Moncayo, where Bjornethun secured a Round 1 heel hook over Moncayo. Another awesome fight was Pancrase veteran Matt Hume vs. Shooto legend Erik Paulson, two guys who would later become legendary MMA coaches. They fought into the third round before Paulson got a bad cut in Round 3, and brought the fight to an end.

The card also featured Igor Zinoviev, who retained his Middleweight Championship after fighting John Lober to a draw, while Ralph Gracie successfully defended his Lightweight Championship by submitting Ali Mihoubi with a quick first-round armbar!

There were a ton of other recognizable names here too. Future PRIDE fighter (one of the first two actually) Kazunari Murakami defeated Bart Vale by TKO, Allan Goes stopped UFC veteran Anthony Macias with a TKO, and Brazilian Vale Tudo veteran João Roque submitted Abdelaziz Cherigui by a quick armbar. The fight between John Lewis vs. Johil de Oliveira ended in a draw.

Extreme Fighting 3 is a really cool snapshot of MMA in 1996, when the sport was still finding its identity and fighters from kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, shootfighting, and Vale Tudo were all being thrown together to see whose style worked. Definitely a great one to watch for fans of old-school MMA history. I believe you can find it on YouTube, although for the full old school experience get a VHS copy on eBay and watch it on a VCR! Respect the pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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a month ago

INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2001 Official Event Poster ✨ This is the official poster for the INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2001 event, held on New Year’s Eve 2001 at Saitama Super Arena in Japan, for an audience of 35,492 fans! The event was built around the rivalry between the K-1 Army and the Inoki Army, with PRIDE rules being used for the MMA bouts.

The card featured some absolutely legendary kickboxing names making their MMA debuts, including Mike Bernardo, Sam Greco, Cyril Abidi, and Jérôme Le Banner. We also got Nobuhiko Takada, Don Frye, Gary Goodridge, Ebenezer Fontes Braga, Mirko Cro Cop, and Tadao Yasuda on the same card.

The main event was Tadao Yasuda vs. Jérôme Le Banner with Yasuda being a massive underdog against the much more experienced kickboxer, but completely shocked everyone by submitting Le Banner with a guillotine choke in the second round. An HUGE upset and one of the most memorable moments of the event!

Mirko Cro Cop fought New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Yuji Nagata, finishing him with a left high kick and ground-and-pound in only 21 seconds. Don Frye also picked up a Round-2 submission over Cyril Abidi.

The event even featured a special professional wrestling match with Antonio Inoki & The Great Sasuke vs. Giant Silva & a Red-and-White Mask, making this a perfect representation of the wild crossover between K-1, PRIDE, and Japanese professional wrestling at the beginning of the 2000s!

INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2001 was a huge success and became the beginning of a New Year’s Eve tradition that would continue with INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2002, and the awesome, controversial 2003 instalment!You can find the whole event on YouTube, and Internet archive.. I’d definitely give it a watch! Respect the pioneers! - Blago by @blagosmmavault

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a month ago

Throwback to when I saw my first live MMA show! PFL in Pittsburgh! I took a trip over to the UPMC events center, and saw some AMAZING fights there, and got to meet some great fighters and legends of the sport! I’ll get to the shirt later.. it’s from UFC 20!

Tatiana Postarnakova, fought a GREAT fight and got a victory over her opponent! Всего самого лучшего вам!

Johnny Eblen! A very decorated fighter and DOMINATED Bryan Battle in his PFL debut!

Alexei Pergande! Was great meeting a fellow Alexei! Absolute WARRIOR! Insane fight from you and your opponent! Молодец братан!

The man himself! UFC Champion and Hall of Famer, PRIDE fighter and great coach, Mr. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler! Was great to meet you, sir!

Bryan Battle! Talked with him about MMA history, was a great guy and went back to the drawing board, and now is 1-1 in the PFL! He has great heart and will do great in his new beginning!

Impa Kasanganay! Got a SICK Knockout over his opponent, was great to meet you, sir!

The man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Marcus “Conan” Silveira! Battlecade Champion, UFC fighter, and co-founder of the American Top Team! Was great to meet you!

Dakota Ditcheva! One of the best female fighters on the planet! Was great to meet you, and can’t wait to see you fight again!

Greg Hamilton, seasoned Ring Announcer of the WWE and now the PFL! Was a pleasure to speak with you and meet you!

Shady Beshai! A fellow collector, historian, and now a great journalist for MMA! Was great to meet up with you after the event! Check him out at @mma.dungeon and @shadybeshaimma

A great time! I bought a poster there which was signed by all the fighters! Will share soon! taken in UPMC Events Center by @blagosmmavault

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2 months ago

PRIDE.5 1999 Official Event Poster ✨ This was the official event poster for PRIDE.5, held in Nagoya, Japan in 1999. This card had some absolutely legendary names on it, including Kazushi Sakuraba, Nobuhiko Takada, Igor Vovchanchyn, Enson Inoue, Egan Inoue, Vitor Belfort, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Mark Coleman. To address why Mark Kerr is the face of this event despite not competing there, Mark was scheduled to fight Enson Inoue in an AWESOME but tough debut for Enson, but ended up being scrapped due to Mark Kerr injuring himself in training. The same would happen in PRIDE.8, and they would later schedule their fight for the GP2000, where Mark won! Well.. now that that’s out of the way, BACK TO PRIDE.5!

One of the biggest fights of the night was Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Vitor Belfort. Belfort was a UFC champion and already one of the most feared fighters in the world, but Sakuraba put on an awesome performance and defeated him by decision. Sakuraba’s mentor Nobuhiko Takada also picked up a “win,” “submitting” Mark Coleman with a heel hook in the second round. You see what I mean? It was officially declared by Mark to be a fixed fight, as they offered him LOTS of money to throw that. After the Rickson Gracie rematch, Takada’s reputation was on a decline, and they had to revive it to show how his training still paid off.

Another really cool part of this event was the very technical Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu exhibition between brothers Rickson Gracie and Royler Gracie after the fourth fight. In that fourth fight Enson Inoue also made his PRIDE debut here, submitting Soichi Nishida in a mere 24 seconds!

PRIDE.5 is an important piece of Japanese MMA history, as it also marked the end of the KRS organisation. KRS spent TONS of money in their productions of PRIDE.1 through PRIDE.4, and later dissolved to form Dream Stage Entertainment. Both were led by Naoto Morishita Nobuyuki Sakaibara, and the mysterious Mr. Hiromichi Momose. (More on all of them soon! They have histories of their own!) PRIDE.5 is Definitely worth watching! I believe it’s on YouTube! Great fights and amazing debuts! Respect the pioneers! - Blago taken in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania by @blagosmmavault

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2 months ago