Top prospect Alexander Sarnavskiy signs on with Bellator

Bellator Fighting Championships has just signed undefeated lightweight Alexander “Tiger” Sarnavskiy (20-0) for its Season Seven Lightweight Tournament, the promotion announced on Tuesday.

Ranked as one of the top prospects in the world with a polished ground game, Sarnavskiy trains under one of the best technical strikers in the sport: Bellator Middleweight World Title Challenger Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko. Sarnavskiy wants to follow his coach’s lead: “Alexander Shlemenko has put a high standard of Russian dominance in Bellator by winning two middleweight tournaments. Now my teammate Andrey Koreshkov fights for Bellator as well and he recently won two fights by spectacular KO’s. Vitaly Minakov also just signed with Bellator, and I expect him to become Bellator‘s next Heavyweight Champion. I want to follow in the footsteps of those men, and make Bellator proud.”

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney is banking on Sarnavskiy as a force to be reckoned with: “Russia’s produced some incredible athletes that have had tremendous success in our sport, and having watched Tiger fight for the last few years, I expect great things from him. He is an incredibly explosive and dynamic Mixed Martial Artist who should be a force here at Bellator.”

Sarnavskiy has fought under the M-1 Global banner for several fights, but is looking forward to the next Bellator Lightweight Tournament: “The Bellator Tournament will be a difficult test for me. I will train and prepare myself the best I can. I have a huge responsibility to my coach, my manager, my fans and my country. I won’t disappoint them and I want to show them a spectacular performance.”