Vladimir Kuzmin is an agile striker who is looking to make a serious statement in ONE Championship’s bantamweight Muay Thai division.
Born in the small town of Kamyshlov in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region – roughly 1,900 kilometers east of Moscow – Kuzmin was introduced to combat sports at a young age. His father, a keen weightlifter, took him to train sanda when he was just six years old so the boy could learn to stand up for himself.
Kuzmin took to it immediately, eventually earning a black belt, and then later switching to Thai boxing at the age of 11. Inspired by his idols – MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko and hall-of-fame boxer Kostya Tszyu – he had his first fight at 16, and after racking up a string of victories in competition, he decided to pursue martial arts as a career.
The Russian turned professional in 2016 and relocated to the bigger city of Yekaterinburg in search of world-class training, joining the respected Fight Club Archangel Michael.
That move paid off in a big way.
Kuzmin built a nearly perfect record, losing just one of his first 17 bouts, and even earned a silver medal at the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw, Poland. He entered ONE Championship riding a 10-fight winning streak, which included a standout night at Road to ONE 4 in November 2020, where he defeated two opponents in a single evening — both by unanimous decision — to win the four-man tournament and a coveted spot on the organization’s global roster.
The Russian’s ability to both pressure opponents and fight off the back foot makes him a threat to every bantamweight striker, and he has repeatedly shown he can withstand even the most powerful blows without ever backing down.
Kuzmin stood out in his promotional debut, earning a unanimous decision over Scotland’s Chris Shaw after an all-out striking war in February 2022. He even pushed beloved veteran “Elbow Zombie” Muangthai PK Saenchai and now-reigning ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Champion Jonathan “The General” Haggerty to the limit, dropping razor-close decisions.
Through it all, one thing is clear: Kuzmin is an elite contender who is only getting better, and he may have ONE World Title gold wrapped around his waist in the near future.
