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Vasilevski:
Moving Up the Light Heavyweight Ladder as a European Prospect
 At
22 years of age, Vyacheslav "Slava" Vasilevski is quietly making a
name for himself as a top contender in the light heavyweight
division with M-1 Global thanks to his impressive 9-1 record.
Vasilevski was born and grew up in the quaint Siberian city known as
Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarski Krai. With the city's sport complex
located close to his home, almost all of his friends had undertaken
some form of combat training; peer pressure got the best of this
young lad and he ventured down the road to try his hands in martial
arts.
‘Slava’ has trained judo since he was 9 and started "without any
particular goals" says the touted fighter. But after a relatively
short time frame, Vasilevski became the judo champion of
Krasnoyarski Krai, earned three medals at the national youth judo
championships and then became the judo champion of Siberia in the
adult-class competitions. By the time he turned 19, he transitioned
his training to boxing and combat sambo.
In February 2008, Vasilevski entered his first national combat sambo
championship; his very first opponent was Sergey Khramov, one of the
most decorated athletes in the history of combat sambo. Vasilevski
won this bout and progressed deeper into the tournament brackets
surprising fans, judges and himself. His victory over Khramov
secured him an invitation to the European championships where his
dream run came to a halt in the finals.
It was at the European Championships where ‘Slava’ met his current
trainer, Alexei Tchugreev, who saw potential in his athleticism and
offered up a bout in MMA at an event in the Czech Republic.
Accepting the challenge, Vasilevski had just 10 days to prepare for
his debut and won it by submission; his career in MMA has progressed
since with his Sambo 70 training partners such as Marat Aliaskhabov,
who has spent time training with the Russian national freestyle
wrestling team, and Evgeni Kaynov, who trained with the national
boxing team.
Fighting out of Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Vasilevski would be
considered a small light heavyweight, standing at 5’ 9” and weighing
in at his bout against Shamil Tinagadjiev at only 198lbs. But
following in the footsteps of his favourite fighter and role model,
Fedor Emelianenko, he believes he can compete in the face of much
larger opponents; so far this proving to be true.
Vasilevski takes his experience in the M-1 ring and will ride an
eight fight win streak into the M-1 Challenge Light Heavyweight
Championship bout later this year against either European Selection
champion and standout, Thomasz Narkun, or Americas Selection
Champion phenom, Byron Byrd – both undefeated and yet to see a
second frame.
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