Creator credit recorded on the linked source page: Mesmeridze · CC BY-SA 3.0
Aleksei Oleinik
Kharkiv-born sambo champion and BJJ black belt who made the Ezekiel choke his signature and in 2017 landed the first Ezekiel win in UFC history.
Biography
Sources for this profile
UFC.com, preview feature on Oleinik's grappling match against Gordon Ryan, 10 December 2019.(opens in a new tab)
A UFC.com feature of 10 December 2019 introduces Aleksei Oleinik as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who also holds a 4th-degree black belt in jujutsu.
Where in the source: Second paragraph, credentials list: "BJJ black belt"
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Oleinik was due to meet Gordon Ryan in a grappling match at Quintet Ultra on 12 December 2019, shown on UFC Fight Pass. Oleinik said he first heard of Ryan when the match was offered and that both men were strong grapplers.
Where in the source: Closing paragraphs: event date, Fight Pass
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The same feature calls him a multiple-time sambo champion and lists him both as the first and as the second fighter in UFC history to win by Ezekiel choke.
Where in the source: Credentials list: "Sambo champion"
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Sherdog, feature on Oleinik ahead of his UFC Fight Night 136 main event, 14 September 2018.(opens in a new tab)
Sherdog wrote in September 2018 that Oleinik was born in 1977 in Kharkov, then part of the Soviet Union and now Kharkiv in Ukraine.
Where in the source: Item 2: "born in 1977"
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As of September 2018 Sherdog counted 44 submission wins in his MMA career, 12 of them by Ezekiel choke. In the UFC he had beaten Viktor Pešta and Júnior Albini that way, and the Pešta finish at UFC Fight Night 103 in January 2017 was the first Ezekiel choke win in the promotion's history.
Where in the source: Item 1: Ezekiel choke paragraph
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Sherdog lists his grappling accolades as two-time Russian combat sambo champion (2003 and 2004), Eurasian combat sambo champion (2001), world combat sambo champion (2005), and in 2011 winner of the Grapplers Quest black belt no-gi advanced superweight tournament and the absolute division of an Eddie Alvarez grappling tournament.
Where in the source: Item 5: grappling credentials
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Sherdog reported that from winter 2016 he lived in Florida to be near American Top Team, where he trained.
Where in the source: Item 3
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Wikipedia, article on Aleksei Oleinik, section on his grappling career.(opens in a new tab)
In April 2011, during a K-Dojo Warrior Tribe training camp, Oleinik won the absolute division of an Eddie Alvarez grappling tournament and the black belt no-gi advanced superweight division of the Grapplers Quest Beast of the East 2011.
Where in the source: Grappling career, 1st paragraph
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On 12 December 2019 Oleinik returned to grappling against Gordon Ryan at Quintet Ultra and lost quickly by kneebar.
Where in the source: Grappling career, 2nd paragraph
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The article says his submission skills grew out of traditional Japanese jujutsu and combat sambo, and that he drew a fight with a Spanish BJJ black belt, Rogent Lloret.
Where in the source: MMA career section
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In summer 2010, with K-Dojo head coach Murat Keshtov, Oleinik entered the first Bellator heavyweight tournament, won his opening bout by split decision over Mike Hayes and was stopped by Neil Grove in the semi-final.
Where in the source: Bellator MMA section
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He made his UFC debut on 28 June 2014 with an early scarf hold submission of Anthony Hamilton, and in November 2014 knocked out Jared Rosholt for his first Performance of the Night bonus.
Where in the source: UFC, 2014
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He returned in July 2016 after a break from competition and lost a majority decision to Daniel Omielańczuk; in January 2017 he submitted Viktor Pešta with an Ezekiel choke from full mount, a technique more usually seen in gi grappling.
Where in the source: UFC, 2016-2017
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In 2017 he also beat Travis Browne by submission at UFC 213; in May 2018 he made it a second UFC Ezekiel choke win over Júnior Albini at UFC 224 in Rio de Janeiro; in September 2018 he submitted Mark Hunt in Moscow.
Where in the source: UFC, 2017-2018
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In January 2020 he submitted Maurice Greene at UFC 246 and, per Wikipedia, became the first fighter both to compete and to win in MMA across four decades, 1990s to 2020s; in May 2020 he won a split decision over Fabrício Werdum.
Where in the source: UFC, 2020
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His UFC contract ended in October 2022 after a unanimous decision loss to Ilir Latifi; later bouts include a first-round Ezekiel choke win over Antonio Zovak at Open FC 67 in Moscow on 11 July 2026.
Where in the source: Post UFC; record table
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Russian Wikipedia, article on Aleksey Oleynik, section on the Minamoto Clan years.(opens in a new tab)
Russian Wikipedia says he began serious combat training in 1996, aged 19, in Kharkiv at the Minamoto Clan club, whose members practised traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu and took part in early post-Soviet no-holds-barred tournaments. He trained under Gennady Minka, who let him compete after six months.
Where in the source: Minamoto Clan section
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At the IAFC world championship in Moscow in April 1997 he made Igor Akinin tap to a guillotine in the quarter-final, then lost the semi-final to a rear-naked choke from Leonid Efremov.
Where in the source: Minamoto Clan section
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Within a year he was among the best fighters at the club and effectively his teacher's right hand; he also trained at other Kharkiv gyms, sparring with practitioners of other martial arts, sport masters and black belt holders. Heavyweight Igor Vovchanchin shaped his training, and the two once wrestled a 100-minute sparring session.
Where in the source: Minamoto Clan, 2nd paragraph
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In March 1998 he headlined a Minamoto Clan show in Kyiv against the American kickboxing and karate champion Clarence Thatch, whom he won against by ground and pound in the fourth minute; he also won four-man tournaments in Ukraine in 1999 and 2001.
Where in the source: Minamoto Clan, 3rd paragraph
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In the 2000s he trained and fought mostly in Russia, and won combat sambo titles: Eurasian champion in 2001, Russian champion in 2003 and 2004, and world champion in 2005.
Where in the source: Section on Russian clubs
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In 2007 he first used the Ezekiel choke, at a Legion Fight tournament in Rostov-on-Don, and it later became his trademark technique.
Where in the source: 2007 paragraph
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In 2009 he was part of the Red Devil Fighting Team that won the M-1 Challenge team championship, beating a Netherlands team in the final.
Where in the source: 2009 paragraph
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With Yevgeny Zhilin's help he built the Oplot club and the Oplot Challenge league in Kharkiv, which ran many small shows for local newcomers; he headlined several of them, including a rematch win over Jeff Monson.
Where in the source: Oplot Challenge section
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In November 2013 he took a main-event fight with only 12 days' notice at Legend 2 in Moscow and submitted Mirko Cro Cop from side control; the win drew the attention of foreign promotions and led to his UFC contract.
Where in the source: Legend section
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Russian Wikipedia says he received Russian citizenship in December 2014.
Where in the source: Late 2014 sentence
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Lineage
No teaching connections are shown on this page.
Open lineage