Oleg Taktarov played Ivan Poddubny in the show dedicated to the 155th anniversary of the athlete

The famous Russian athlete, the first UFC champion from Russia Oleg Taktarov played the role of the great Ivan Poddubny, the most famous Russian-Soviet Greco-Roman wrestler.

As part of the international youth tournament in Greco-Roman wrestling “Victory”, held in Moscow “Luzhniki” on October 17-18, an entertaining theatrical show dedicated to the 155th anniversary of the Soviet-Russian “Bogatyr” Ivan Poddubny took place. The role of the famous wrestler was performed by the first Russian UFC champion Oleg Taktarov, who performed under the nickname “Russian Bear”.

Ivan Poddubny is a cult personality in the world of sports. Being a simple port loader, he once got into the circus, where his wrestling career began. At first, he performed for the amusement of the public, and then left the circus and began a professional career. Since 1903 Poddubny was the most popular wrestler in Europe in the (French) Greco-Roman style. World Wrestling Champion of 1905 and 1908. Ivan’s last fight was at the age of 70, in 1941.

Oleg Taktarov, who played the role of a great athlete, today is an actor, film producer, director, TV presenter and conducts public activities. In an exclusive interview with the editor of MK-Sport, he said that the role of Poddubny in the Russian film of the same name in 2014 was originally supposed to play him, not Mikhail Porechenkov. However, for some organizational reasons, Taktarov failed to appear in the film.

Also “Russian Bear” said that the show was supposed to take part American fighter of mixed style Jeff Monson, who received Russian citizenship in 2018. According to the plan, Monson and Taktarov were supposed to have a real two-minute fight in the show, but Jeff did not have time to come to Moscow from UVA.