Oleg Popov is 22-2-0 and ranked number one in the PFL heavyweight division, yet only 12 of his 22 wins ended inside the distance. His current three-fight winning streak is made entirely of decisions, and on 14 November 2026 he faces the unbeaten Pouya Rahmani in Dubai.
Oleg Popov's record: 22-2-0 and a number one ranking
Popov is a 34-year-old American heavyweight who trains with FedorTeam and stands 185 cm. He made his professional debut on 23 October 2015 and has built his résumé across Bellator and the PFL, collecting no bonus awards along the way.
Of his 22 wins, 9 came by KO or TKO, 3 by submission and 10 by decision. That puts his finish rate at 55 percent, counted as the share of wins that came by KO, TKO or submission. For a heavyweight sitting at the top of a division, that is a record built as much on control as on power.
His two defeats are one submission and one decision. He has never been stopped by strikes.
Recent form: a streak of three decisions
A win streak here means consecutive wins with no loss in between. Popov's current one is three, and all three were decisions: a split decision over Karl Williams at PFL 4 (2025), a unanimous decision over Rodrigo Nascimento at PFL 7 (2025) and a split decision over Alexander Romanov at PFL 10 (2025), the last one going the full five rounds.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Method | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Aug 2025 | Alexander Romanov | Win | Decision (split) | 5 |
| 27 Jun 2025 | Rodrigo Nascimento | Win | Decision (unanimous) | 3 |
| 1 May 2025 | Karl Williams | Win | Decision (split) | 3 |
| 29 Nov 2024 | Denis Goltsov | Loss | Submission | - |
| 2 Aug 2024 | Linton Vassell | Win | Decision (unanimous) | 3 |
Over his last five he is 4-1. The one loss came against Denis Goltsov, who submitted him in 2:55 at PFL 10 (2024).
How Popov wins fights
The Romanov fight was the longest of the run: a five-round split decision that went to the final bell. The two fights before it were three-rounders that also went the distance, so Popov's last stretch under the PFL banner has been decided entirely by the judges.
His last stoppage came at PFL 1 (2024), when he knocked out Steve Mowry with punches in round two at 3:47. Since then he has gone 5-1, and every one of those five wins went to the scorecards: Davion Franklin and Linton Vassell in 2024, then Williams, Nascimento and Romanov in 2025. Earlier, at Bellator 291 in February 2023, he took a unanimous decision over Gokhan Saricam.
His nine KO or TKO wins show the power is there. The current version of Popov, though, is a fighter who stays at the top by winning over three and five rounds, and who has not needed a finish to hold his place.
His rank has held at number one, unchanged from the previous update.
Popov vs. Rahmani: the next fight
His last fight on record was against Romanov on 21 August 2025. Popov meets Pouya Rahmani at PFL Dubai: Nemkov vs. Bilostenniy on 14 November 2026 in the heavyweight division. Rahmani is 6-0-0, so this pairs a fighter with 22 wins against one who has yet to lose.
It is not a title fight, but a win would extend Popov's streak to four and keep him at the head of the PFL heavyweight rankings.
In this story
This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.