Sambo specialist Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) is one of 14 fighters set to battle Saturday in the first round of the Dream lightweight grand prix.

A native of Dagestan in southwestern Russia, the 29-year-old fighter is recognized as the country's strongest lightweight fighter. Certainly he has collected plenty of titles in his homeland.

In 2002 he won the Far Eastern kickboxing championship as a bantamweight. Working his way up to 145 pounds, he took home several sambo titles, the most important being the silver medal at the world championships in 2004, as well as three gold medals in a row at the Russian championships from 2002 to 2004.

Has the "sambo mania," set off by Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures)'s devastating run as Pride heavyweight champion, helped Oumakhanov's career in Japan?

"It didn't help me directly," he says. "Of course, he is a great fighter and has achieved a lot ... even being able to meet Putin. I respect him a lot."

A Japanese gym, SK Absolute, did hire Oumakhanov as a sambo trainer in the summer of 2006. He has settled in nicely in Japan, where compatriots Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (Pictures) and Djalili Salmanov (Pictures) have joined him. The integration has worked so well, he doesn't even miss his favorite Russian dishes, Pelmeni and Pierogi.

"I don't eat Russian food while I am in Japan," he says with a laugh. "I rather eat veggies and fruits. After my fight, I will polish off a couple of fish dishes ... and I love sushi."

Shorty after arriving in Japan, Oumakhanov made his MMA debut for GCM, finishing grappler Takahito Iida (Pictures) with strikes just as the first round was coming to a close. Japanese fight fans got their first glimpse that "Uma" was something special when he suplexed journeyman Yuji Miyazaki (Pictures) for a knockout after only 63 seconds in his sophomore fight. As a result, he received a much tougher opponent for his third appearance inside a Japanese ring: Pancrase old hand Takafumi Ito (Pictures), who, with more than 60 fights under his belt, had 30 times the experience of Oumakhanov.

Nonetheless the Russian grinded out a unanimous decision, which catapulted him to No. 1 challenger status for the Pancrase lightweight title. Two wins over Kaynan Kaku (Pictures) and Wataru Miki (Pictures) later, Hero's matchmaker Akira Maeda (Pictures) called him up as a short-notice replacement for Gesias Calvancante (Pictures) to compete in the promotion's 155-pound tournament.

His battle against Brazilian knockout artist Andre Amade (Pictures) showed his main weakness, however. Despite his supreme ground fighting skills, Oumakhanov often employs a happy-go-lucky attitude and enjoys exchanging leather standing up.

"Every fight starts with the standing position," he explains. "Having a good striking technique gives you a better chance to control the fight. That is why I got into those exchanges with [Amade] and Shoji. If I cannot establish my boxing game, I don't even have a chance to take my opponent down."

Although the war against "Dida" had him knocked down and struggling to get back to his feet several times before ultimately being knocked out, the Russian fighter would love another crack at the muay Thai specialist from the Universidade da Luta.

"Of course I'd like to fight him again," Oumakhanov says. "If both of us make it to the second round, I will ask FEG to give me [Amade] as my next opponent."

In order to reach the quarterfinals, which take place May 11, he will have to make it past Sydney Olympic wrestling silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata (Pictures). After he had eliminated Cage Warriors lightweight tournament winner Tomonari Kanomata (Pictures) and Kotetsu Boku (Pictures) en route to his triumph in the Cage Force 70-kilogram tournament last year, Dream deliberately set up another duel between Oumakhanov and a Japanese fighter.

"I believe that he will try to wrestle with me, and I am well prepared for that," Oumakhanov says. "SK Absolute is the place for wrestling in Japan. Besides that, I don't have any particular strategy, but I will react as well as possible and look to finish him. The only thing I can say for sure is that I will come out the winner, not him."

As a natural featherweight, Oumakhanov is one of the smallest participants in the tournament. Fighters like 5-11 Shinya Aoki (Pictures), 5-10 Eddie Alvarez (Pictures) and 6-foot Kultar Gill (Pictures) have a distinctive size and reach advantage on him. Nonetheless, he promises to show his fighting spirit should he face one of those lightweight "giants" in one of the later rounds.

"Size shouldn't be a problem," Oumakhanov says. "If I had ever been afraid of facing bigger opponents, I wouldn't be a fighter now."