The Akhmat Fight Team product will challenge the undefeated Reinier de Ridder for the One Championship middleweight title in the One 159 headliner on July 22 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Bigdash enters the cage on the strength of a three-fight winning streak. He last fought on Feb. 25, when he completed his trilogy with Aung La N Sang—Bigdash holds a 2-1 advantage in their head-to-head series—and walked away with a unanimous decision over the Sanford MMA rep at One “Full Circle.”
As Bigdash approaches his high-stakes battle with de Ridder at 205 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied him to this point:
37: Years of age for Bigdash, who was born on July 25, 1984 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
6: Bigdash victories by submission, accounting for 50% of his career total (12). His methods of choice: one armbar, one heel hook, one triangle choke, one rear-naked choke, one reverse triangle armbar and one guillotine choke. Bigdash holds four other victories by knockout or technical knockout and two more by decision.
633: Days spent by Bigdash as the One Championship middleweight titleholder. He captured the crown with a second-round technical knockout of Igor Svirid at One “Tigers of Asia” on Oct. 9, 2015, retained it with a five-round unanimous decision over Sang at One “Quest for Power” on Jan. 14, 2017 and surrendered it to Sang in a five-round unanimous decision in their One “Light of a Nation” rematch on June 30, 2017.
25: Rounds completed by Bigdash as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on three different occasions and carries a 2-1 record in those bouts.
53: Seconds needed for Bigdash to put away Dmitri Emets with a kick at Oplot Challenge 87 on Nov. 9, 2013. Having occurred eight-plus years ago, it remains his fastest finish to date.
1: Stoppage loss on the Bigdash resume. He succumbed to punches from Leandro Ataides in the third round of their One Championship “Grit and Glory” pairing in May 2018.
4: Organizations in which Bigdash has plied his mixed martial arts trade. He has gone 5-2 in One Championship, 5-0 in the Professional Fighting Championships, 1-0 in Glory and 1-0 in Oplot Challenge.
.745: Cumulative winning percentage between the two men—Ataides and Sang—who have defeated Bigdash. They sport a combined record of 38-15.