Russian MMA heavyweight Maxim 'Mad Max' Novoselov takes on huge bear – and 'submits' it (VIDEO)
Move over Khabib Nurmagomedov, there’s a new bear-wrestling Russian MMA fighter in town.
While Khabib is his country’s best-known ursine grappler after footage of him as a youngster tussling with a bear went viral a few years back, Russian giant Maxim ‘Mad Max’ Novoselov is looking to take the heavyweight title.
Novoselov, 46, was shown in social media footage brawling with a huge bear inside a cage in Perm, Siberia – even managing to put the giant animal on its back.
“A bear is fighting a bear,” Novoselov is heard saying at the start of the clip – which may make uncomfortable viewing for some – before manhandling his rival for around a minute.
“It was a good opponent for me, it weighs 250kg. Neither of us suffered. The bear maybe suffered more. It rarely sees human bears like me,” the 6ft, 250lbs fighter later told a local news website.
Chelyabinsk-born heavyweight Novoselov, who boasts a pro record of 9 wins and two defeats, has some unorthodox training methods – and earlier this year nearly took one training partner’s arm off when he accidentally plunged an axe into it.
Novoselov is also notorious for having been jailed for 14 years in 1993 on murder charges, and spent more time behind bars in 2012 when he was found guilty of links to a drugs business.
He was last in action at the end of June when he defeated Aleksandar Aleksic via first-round TKO at Fight Championship Aslan.
Novoselov could be considered a bear-wrestling heavyweight equivalent to UFC lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Footage of the famous Dagestani fighter wrestling a bear as a youngster went viral several years back, and has added to Khabib’s legend.
Nurmagomedov has been reunited with his ursine rival several times since, although his antics have fallen foul of animal rights group PETA.
Following Nurmagomedov’s recent title defense against Dustin Poirier, the group told Business Insider that it “encourages the UFC to evaluate its relationship with Mr Nurmagomedov until he shows a clear change in attitude and commitment to showing animals the respect they deserve.”
