Alyona Rassohyna born June 11th, 1990 is from Dnipro, near the front lines of the current war being waged between Ukraine and Russia, a place where Ukrainians, whose homes have already been swamped by war have fled for refuge.
The city and Ukraine will need many more warriors like Alyona Rassohyna if they are to prevail, leading to our series highlighting Ukrainian martial artists.
Rassohyna now 31, has a 13-5 record and currently fights in the atomweight division of ONE Championship, where she has gone 1-1 with (both fights being against former title challenger) Stamp Fairtex.
The no.4-ranked, 105-pounder in ONE is also an armbar wizard, with eight of her wins coming by the submission. So without further ado, let’s tussle with the armbar assassin, Alyona Rassohyna’s Top 3 MMA Finishes! (in descending order)
3. Vs. Stamp Fairtex – ONE: Unbreakable 3 (Jan. 22, 2021)
This was Rassohyna’s debut in ONE Championship, and testament to her abilities, she was thrown straight into the deep end against a former ONE kickboxing and muay thai champion, the no. 5-ranked ONE atomweight, Stamp Fairtex. It was a real, come-from-behind fight, with crazy back-and-forth action, and even some controversy!
The Ukrainian got into her takedowns just a minute into the first round, shooting a double leg and finishing it beautifully with an inside trip.
However, Stamp was immediately on the offensive with her guard, putting her opponent in an omoplata,
earning the sweep, ending up in single leg. She managed to get a far side underhook locked, and passed with a knee cut to side control, before seamlessly transitioning to mount.
Rassohyna bucked to escape but Stamp rode the wave of her hips ending up on her back. The 31 year-old managed to turn back to mount and then hip bump successfully out and into Stamp’s guard, before passing to mount herself and quickly attacking with her patented armbar submission.
However, it was a slightly rushed attempt which allowed her opponent to roll up and stack her against the cage and then extract her arm.
The two returned to their feet and traded a few punches each before Rassohyna hit another double leg takedown with 1:20 left in the round.
Again, Stamp went straight on the offensive from guard, but Rassoyna was able to pass with a knee cut. She tried to mount again and rushed another armbar attempt leading to the two getting up and clinching along the fence. Rassohyna landed good knees to the body before Stamp broke the clinch with two hard elbows.
Rassohyna came out aggressive to start the second round, with multiple lead left hooks. It took longer for the first takedown attempt to come about in this round, and at 1:40 in, she shot for the double again, but it was easily defended – Stamp caught her with a knee as Rassohyna stood up from her failed attempt.
At 2:20, another of her takedowns was thwarted as they broke from the clinch at the fence. Once again Stamp showed her muay thai credentials cracking her opponent with an elbow over the top of her guard, and straight punches that led Rassohyna to shoot in desperation, but Stamp easily sprawled and took her back.
As Rassohyna attempted to escape, Stamp transitioned to mount, but she used the fence to walk her legs up and buck Stamp off, returning to the feet.
The Thai fighter immediately secured a single leg takedown which Rassohyna countered with an armbar attempt. Again, it was defended in textbook fashion as Stamp floated over Rassohyna to escape.
With just 20 seconds left on the clock, Rassohyna was caught with a left hook to the body (as she went for the takedown) that visibly winded her, but she survived to see the third round.
“The Armbar Assassin” had it all to do now in the final round, and at 1:30 in, she countered a leg kick with two left hooks that landed flush.
The two traded evenly until Rassohyna made her move with 1:10 left on the clock, shooting a double leg that she finished landing in the guard. She tried desperately to pass but Stamp pushed her off and got an underhook to sweep, which was used by Rassohyna to get a guillotine. With two seconds left, Stamp tapped…
Immediately after the referee broke the two apart, Stamp protested that she didn’t tap, but as you’ll see from the video this looks like a case of the old ‘Brazilian Tap’.
2. Vs. Elaine Leal – WWFC 15 (Sept. 21, 2019)
In Rassohyna’s final fight for WWFC she fought for their atomweight title.
To start, Rassohyna came out pressuring right away landing leg kicks and straight punches. As she got her opponent against the fence, she thew a jab and as Leal attempted to grab a bodylock, Rassohyna wrapped her head with the jabbing hand, turning it into a hip throw, and landing in a scarf hold.
As Leal gained half guard, Rassohyna took a far side underhook and began passing. Stuck in quarter guard, she unloaded solid ground and pound to the head before transitioning to the far side armbar, earning a quick tap in just the first minute of the fight.
1. Vs. Samantha Jean-Francois – WWFC 11 (June. 16, 2018)
In round 1, just 10 seconds into this fight, Rassohyna used a hip throw, and threw a left hook, ending up in closed guard.
Jean-Francois made her way to the fence with Rassohyna landing good strikes within the guard. This is where they remained for almost three minutes until the referee stood them up.
Just 30 seconds later Rassohyna landed the same throw, this time landing cleanly in a scarf hold. This time she grabbed the nearside armbar, but Jean-Francois defended by turning in, forcing Rassohyna to go belly down causing her to release the submission.
However, Rassohyna didn’t give up so easily, as soon as her opponent entered her guard, she snatched a tighter armbar and got the tap with 35 seconds left on the clock.
