Nikolai Zouev

Nikolai Nikolayevich Zouev was a Russian mixed martial artist. He competed in the Heavyweight division.

Career

He had a background in sambo and freestyle wrestling, starting a rivalry with Volk Han.
He debuted on 13 July 1993 at Fighting Network Rings "RINGS BATTLE DIMENSION '93" against Todor Todorov.
He spent most of his career in Fighting Network Rings in a variety of fighting codes including professional wrestling, Sambo and Mixed Martial Arts. He had multiple matches against his rival Volk Han and Mitsuya Nagai.
He stopped fighting for RINGS on 21 February 1999 in a loss against Magomedkhan Gamzatkhanov as the promotion was shifting towards only doing MMA matches.
He became a coach after his retirement, helping to train fighters such as Sergei Kharitonov.
Zouev died on May 21, 2022, a day after his 64th birthday, from years of heart disease.