Andreas Michailidis
“The Spartan”
Source: ufc.comGreek fighter "The Spartan", a self-described Gracie Barra Greece black belt who took a UFC debut on about ten days' notice in 2020 while based in Greece.
Biography
Sources for this profile
Wikipedia, article on Andreas Michailidis (page last edited 18 October 2026)(opens in a new tab)
Wikipedia gives his birth date as 18 July 1988.
Where in the source: Infobox, Born: July 18, 1988
Accessed:
Wikipedia states that he began training in wrestling and kickboxing at Malios Team at age eight and later trained MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu at Gracie Barra Greece.
Where in the source: Background section, sentences on Malios Team and Gracie Barra Greece
Accessed:
Wikipedia lists his first professional MMA bout as Spartan Warriors MMA 1 in Athens on 31 May 2009, a first-round TKO win.
Where in the source: Record table, bottom row, Win 1-0, May 31, 2009, Athens
Accessed:
Wikipedia says he won the European Fight League light heavyweight title and then went to the United States to train with Antonio McKee and Quinton Jackson before a King of the Cage bout; the record lists a first-round side-choke win over Daniel Hernandez at KOTC Slugfest on 5 June 2014.
Where in the source: Early career paragraph; record row for Daniel Hernandez, KOTC: Slugfest, June 5, 2014
Accessed:
He lost to Jason Butcher by second-round TKO at Bellator 128 on 10 October 2014.
Where in the source: Record table, Loss 5-2, Bellator 128, October 10, 2014
Accessed:
Wikipedia lists a first-round TKO win in Grozny, Russia (WFCA 9, October 2015) and a unanimous-decision win over Ion Pascu at Abu Dhabi Warriors 4 (May 2016).
Where in the source: Record table rows for WFCA 9 (Oct 4, 2015) and Abu Dhabi Warriors 4 (May 24, 2016)
Accessed:
On 10 December 2017 in Athens he won the Cage Survivor middleweight title by first-round TKO over Tomáš Bolo.
Where in the source: Record table, Win 10-3, WKN Greece: The Battle 17, Dec 10, 2017; Notes column about the Cage Survivor title
Accessed:
In April 2019 he beat Marcel Fortuna by first-round TKO (spinning wheel kick and punches) at Titan FC 54.
Where in the source: Record table, Win 11-3, Titan FC 54, April 26, 2019, round 1
Accessed:
Wikipedia says his UFC debut against Modestas Bukauskas on 16 July 2020 made him the first Greek fighter based in Greece to appear in the UFC and the second born in Greece after Anthony Christodoulou; he lost the bout by TKO.
Where in the source: UFC section, first paragraph
Accessed:
In UFC fights listed by Wikipedia he beat KB Bhullar by unanimous decision on 1 May 2021, lost to Alex Pereira by TKO on 6 November 2021 and to Rinat Fakhretdinov by unanimous decision on 4 June 2022, and was off the UFC roster by 8 June 2022.
Where in the source: UFC section and record table rows for Bhullar, Pereira and Fakhretdinov
Accessed:
Wikipedia lists his 2023 Oktagon MMA welterweight tournament run: a decision win over Leandro Silva (4 March), an arm-triangle choke win over Marcel Grabinski (17 June), a first-round knockout of Louis Glismann (16 September) and a final lost by third-round rear-naked choke to Bojan Veličković (29 December).
Where in the source: Oktagon MMA section and record rows for Oktagon 40, 44, 46 and 51
Accessed:
The record table lists later losses by split decision to Piotr Wawrzyniak (Oktagon 59, July 2024) and by first-round guillotine choke to Mark Hulme (Oktagon 67, February 2025).
Where in the source: Record table, top two rows
Accessed:
Wikipedia gives his nationality as Greek and lists him as fighting out of Athens for EFL Martial Arts Academy.
Where in the source: Infobox, Nationality, Fighting out of and Team lines
Accessed:
Contra.gr (Greek), feature on Michailidis ahead of his UFC debut, 14 July 2020(opens in a new tab)
The Greek sports outlet Contra.gr gave his birth date as 18 July 1988.
Where in the source: Paragraph giving the birth date, "18/7 του 1988"
Accessed:
Contra.gr relays what unnamed insiders say: the UFC had followed him since 2016, when he beat Ion Pascu, and opponents repeatedly pulled out of earlier opportunities so no contract came sooner.
Where in the source: Paragraph starting "Οι γνώστες λένε", mentions 2016 and Ion Pascu
Accessed:
Contra.gr reported before the fight that he stepped in at ten days notice for Vinicius Moreira, who had pulled out, in a division above his usual middleweight, and that the UFC contract covered four fights.
Where in the source: Paragraph starting "Ο Μιχαηλίδης επρόκειτο"; next paragraph on the four-fight contract
Accessed:
Contra.gr described him as the second Greece-born fighter to appear in the UFC and the first who did not change base to get there.
Where in the source: Opening paragraph of the article
Accessed:
Contra.gr said he had worked with coach Dimitris Papakonstantinou since 2013 and knew him from 2009, and that they had set the goal of reaching the top events from the start.
Where in the source: Paragraph starting "Ο Μιχαηλίδης συνεργάζεται με τον προπονητή"
Accessed:
A Greek fight-sports specialist quoted by Contra.gr, Manos Navrozidis, said Michailidis first stood out on the ground and improved his stand-up after hard work at EFL Martial Arts Academy and in the United States.
Where in the source: Quoted passage with Manos Navrozidis, "έδαφος" and "όρθια μάχη"
Accessed:
UFC.com, athlete profile for Andreas Michailidis, Bio tab(opens in a new tab)
In his UFC profile Q&A he states in the first person that he is a BJJ black belt under Gracie Barra Greece.
Where in the source: Bio tab, read in the page markup: "BJJ black belt under Gracie Barra Greece"
Accessed:
In the same UFC profile he says he holds multiple European BJJ championships and multiple Greek kickboxing championships, and has a wrestling background.
Where in the source: Bio tab, read in the page markup: "multiple European BJJ championships"
Accessed:
The UFC profile also quotes him saying he turned professional in MMA in 2009.
Where in the source: Bio tab: "I turned pro in MMA in 2009"
Accessed:
The UFC profile lists his nickname as "The Spartan".
Where in the source: Page header, nickname line above the name
Accessed:
BJPenn.com, interview with Andreas Michailidis by Alfredo Zullino, 8 July 2020(opens in a new tab)
In July 2020 he accepted a UFC debut against Modestas Bukauskas on about ten days notice as a replacement; he had earlier been due to fight for the Cage Warriors middleweight title in April 2020, but that event was canceled, and a Contender Series bout had been arranged for September.
Where in the source: Interview text: "stepping in on just 10 days' notice"; the Cage Warriors and Contender Series answers
Accessed:
He said in the interview that he was the second Greece-born athlete in the UFC but the first to reach it from Greece without relocating abroad, and that he trained day to day at EFL MMA in Greece with camps at the Allstars Training Center in Sweden; the interviewer names Anthony Christodoulou as the earlier Greece-born UFC athlete.
Where in the source: Interview paragraph: "I am the second Greece-born athlete"
Accessed:
FightBook MMA, news item by Ross Markey on the Bukauskas bout, 4 July 2020(opens in a new tab)
FightBook MMA reported on 4 July 2020 that Michailidis would meet Modestas Bukauskas on UFC Fight Island on short notice after Bukauskas's original opponent, Vinicius Moreira, withdrew from the bout.
Where in the source: Opening paragraphs of the news item
Accessed:
Lineage
No teaching connections are shown on this page.
Open lineage