Where are they now? Oleg Taktarov

By Sean McClure

I can vividly remember back to the first UFC's. I was about 20 (yes I am old) and watched with awe at the ferocity and aggression that the fighters took with them in to the cage. I wasn't a really big Royce Gracie fan and would rather have seen Tank Abbott brawl any day than some little guy "hugging" on people. Come on, I wasn't the only one at the time.

At UFC 5, Oleg would choke out Ernie Verdicia getting for the submission victory in what was the Russian's first UFC fight. He would go on to lose to Dan Severn the same night by referee stoppage due to a cut. In my opinion, Oleg was going to win that fight. He had Dan in a bad position and looked to be ready to secure an armlock, but the referee did his job and my hopes for Oleg to win a UFC tournament were trampled.

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