Armenian Fighters

Coaches Tigran Petrosyan and Mkhitar Barseghyan

Tigran Petrosyan and Mkhitar Barseghyan are MMA coaches at the Lion Heart academy in Yerevan.

In August 2026, athletes who train with them won a world title and a bronze medal for Armenia at the IMMAF Youth World Championships in Abu Dhabi.

On their YouTube channel, Armenian Fighters, they sit down with Armenian fighters to talk about the sport.

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Results

The medals belong to the athletes, and to the families, clubs and coaches behind them.

IMMAF Youth World Championships

Abu Dhabi, August 2026

Armenia

1Gold
2Bronze

Armenia's 32-athlete team won three medals. Two of them were won by athletes of the Lion Heart academy, coached by Mkhitar Barseghyan and Tigran Petrosyan.

Gold

Rafik Aleksanyan

Youth A, featherweight 65.8 kg

Club: Lion Heart
Coaches: Mkhitar Barseghyan, Tigran Petrosyan

Six fights, six wins

Fight 1: won, Submission
Fight 2: won, Submission
Fight 3: won, Submission
Fight 4: won, Submission (kimura)
Fight 5: won, Unanimous decision
Fight 6: won, Unanimous decision

Group stage: Opponents from Mexico, Kazakhstan and the UAE; Three submissions
Quarterfinal: Georgi Rusev (Bulgaria); Submission (kimura)
Semifinal: Abubakr Sattorov (Tajikistan); Unanimous decision
Final: Muhammadaziz Nazarov (Uzbekistan); Unanimous decision

Confirmed by

Bronze

Sos Martirosyan

Youth D (11–12), 52 kg

Club: Lion Heart
Coaches: Mkhitar Barseghyan, Tigran Petrosyan

Three fights won

Confirmed by

Armenia's medal count: Lorik Humanitarian Fund, Armenian Weekly

IMMAF European Championships

Belgrade, February 2026

Six months before his world title, Rafik Aleksanyan won bronze at the European Championships.

Bronze

Rafik Aleksanyan

Youth A, 61.2 kg

Club: Lion Heart
Coaches: Mkhitar Barseghyan, Tigran Petrosyan

Reached the semifinal

Quarterfinal: Kanan Aliyev (Azerbaijan); Unanimous decision (30–27)

Confirmed by

The coaches

Tigran and Mkhitar coach together at Lion Heart. They prepared Rafik Aleksanyan and Sos Martirosyan for the 2026 IMMAF Youth World Championships, where Rafik won gold and Sos won bronze.

Tigran Petrosyan

Professional conditioning and MMA coach

Clubs: Works at several clubs in Yerevan, including the professional clubs Lion Heart and ARM.MEN.
Coaching: Conditioning for boxing, MMA and wrestling since 2020. Works with teenagers starting out, junior national team athletes and professional fighters, and also coaches SAMBO.
Instructor: Nine years as an instructor in physical and psychological training for military personnel and Interior Ministry officers.
As an athlete: Champion and winner of All-Russian tournaments in judo, SAMBO and combat SAMBO. Candidate Master of Sport in three sports. Blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Education: Siberian State University of Physical Education and Sport.

Mkhitar Barseghyan

MMA and freestyle wrestling coach

Coaching: Coaches MMA and freestyle wrestling at Lion Heart.
As a fighter: Professional MMA fighter with a wrestling style. Has fought in ACA and Eagle FC.
From: Tashir, Armenia.