Zaza Tkeshelashvili - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Zaza "Grom" Tkeshelashvili (born March 19, 1965) is a Georgian retired Freestyle wrestling

Freestyle wrestling

Freestyle wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is practised throughout the world. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. It is, along with track and field, one of the oldest organized sports in history...

Olympic competitor (100 kg) for Georgia in 1996 Olympic Games Atlanta and mixed martial artist

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

. He formerly competed in the Heavyweight (MMA)

Heavyweight (MMA)

The heavyweight division in mixed martial arts generally groups fighters between .Although many ambiguities exist within the lower weight classes regarding division naming and weight limits, the Heavyweight division is, for the most part, uniform...

division, most of which he fought with Fighting Network RINGS

Fighting Network RINGS

Fighting Network Rings, trademarked as RINGS, is a Japanese combat sport promotion that has lived three distinct periods; puroresu promotion from its inauguration to 1995, mixed martial arts promotion from 1995 to its 2002 disestablishment, and the revived mixed martial arts promotion from 2008 to...

where he was known as Zaza Grom. He lost his last fight at Rings Lithuania - Bushido Rings 2 against Volk Han

Volk Han

Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov , better known by his alias Volk Han , is a Russian shoot wrestler and later a mixed martial artist renowned for his technical mastery of Sambo and submission victories in shoot wrestling and MMA. He was representing Russia in the Russian RINGS team with Fedor...

on August 5, 2001. He holds notable wins over Volk Han

Volk Han

and Travis Fulton

Travis Fulton

Travis Fulton is an American mixed martial artist and a professional boxer in the heavyweight division. He has notched up over 300 vale tudo and mixed martial arts fights since 1996 and over 30 boxing matches since 1999....

, and has fought Bobby Hoffman

Bobby Hoffman

Bobby "The Truth" Hoffman is a retired American mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight division. He won his last fight at Mainstream MMA - Inferno against Chuck Grigsby on August 12, 2006...

and Renato Sobral

Renato Sobral

Renato da Cunha Sobral , also known as "Babalu", is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, and former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. He is regarded as one of the best light heavyweights of the night, and noted for his aggressive style, grappling prowess, and high-caliber submissions. Sobral...

Biography

Zaza has been active in wrestling since 1978 as part of the Trudovije Reservy Tbilissi under coach Iwan Nikoladse. He was one of eight wrestlers selected for the Georgian Olympic Team in 1996. He beat Daniel Sánchez (wrestler) (Cuba), Dolgorsürengiin Sumiyaabazar (Mongolia) and was defeated in the semis by Leri Chabelov (Russia).

He is also mentioned in an interview with Australian fighter Chris Haseman

Chris Haseman

Chris Haseman is a former Australian mixed martial artist. He is currently competing in the Light Heavyweight division.He lost his fight at Spartan Reality Fight 9 against Bill Mahood in 2004, retiring afterwards...

where he comments on Zaza's (referring to him as Zaza Grom) Olympic credentials while telling a story of Rings Teams competitions, which were a 3 on 3 team eliminator event divided up by countries of origin. The rules were that the winner of the match stayed and fought the next member of a team.

"Well, the Georgians sent of Tariel Bitsadze, the team captain. So me being the Australian captain, picked Dan Higgins

Dan Higgins

Dan Higgins is an American saxophone and woodwind player. He has worked with such artists as Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Al Jarreau, Maroon 5, Kenny Loggins, Barry Manilow, Elton John, Go West, The Temptations, Lionel Richie, Joe Cocker and Eros Ramazzotti. He's also got over 300 motion...

, he tapped out after about 30 seconds from a choke, so I then picked Troy (Haseman Chirs' brother). He did exceptionally well, he lasted about a minute, he got knocked out, and then I looked around and I was the only one left. We were lucky that Bitsadze, being so big was getting tired, he had fought for a whole minute and a half. I was lucky enough to get around him he was like a huge tree, I hung onto his legs until he fell down, I jumped on him and chocked him out. The crowd went nuts, I went nuts, until I turned around and here was his brother (Zaza). I got knocked out cold. The funny thing was that the entire tournament had to stop because the other two Georgian fighters didn’t even bother to get changed for the fight because they thought Bitsadze would clean house."*

Paraphrased with some References,explanations and mistakes fixed (The Australian interviewer had issues spelling the Georgian names correctly.)

He is also a fully qualified veterinarian and physical education teacher both of which he still continues to do.

Mixed martial arts record

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Russia Volk Han

Volk Han

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

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|align=center|7-7
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Japan Kiyoshi Tamura

Kiyoshi Tamura

is a Japanese middleweight professional wrestler and mixed martial artist.Once a student of legendary Pro Wrestler Akira Maeda, Tamura is known for his skill in catch wrestling as well as his ability to deliver exciting and realistic professional wrestling bouts....

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

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|align=center|7-6
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Russia Volk Han

Volk Han

Tula, Russia

Tula is an industrial city and the administrative center of Tula Oblast, Russia. It is located south of Moscow, on the Upa River. Population: -History:...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

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|align=center|7-5
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United States Travis Fulton

Travis Fulton

Yekaterinburg Sports Palace

Yekaterinburg Sports Palace is an indoor sporting arena located in Yekaterinburg, Russia. It is used for various indoor events and is the home arena of the Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. The capacity of the arena is 5,500 spectators.-External links:**...

, Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

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|align=center|6-5
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United States Bobby Hoffman

Bobby Hoffman

Brazil Renato Sobral

Renato Sobral

|Submission (kimura)
|Rings - King of Kings 1999 Block A
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|align=center|2
|align=center|1:11
|Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 Tokyo, Japan
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|Win
|align=center|6-3
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Russia Volk Han

Volk Han

|KO
|Rings - Rings Georgia
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|align=center|1
|align=center|7:08
| Georgia
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|Win
|align=center|5-3
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Russia Volk Han

Volk Han

Japan

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|-
|Win
|align=center|4-3
| Sander Thonhauser

Sander Thonhauser

Sander Thonhauser is a Dutch professional mixed martial artist. He competes in the Heavyweight division. He is a RINGS Holland veteran and has also fought for many other top promotions.His Mixed martial arts debut was on June 29, 1997...

Japan

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|-
|Win
|align=center|3-3
| Joop Kasteel

Joop Kasteel

Joop Kasteel is a former Dutch mixed martial artist. Kasteel made his mixed martial arts debut on 15 June 1996. He is a veteran of the RINGS promotion and as he has fought the majority of his fights for them....

|Submission
|Rings - Third Fighting Integration
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|align=center|1
|align=center|5:54
|Tokyo, Japan
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|Win
|align=center|2-3
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Brazil Ricardo Morais

Ricardo Morais

Ricardo "The Mutant" Morais is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist, who competed in Pride Fighting Championships, Jungle Fight, and Rings - MMA...

Japan

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|Win
|align=center|1-3
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Japan Masayuki Naruse

Masayuki Naruse

is a Japanese professional wrestler and Professional mixed martial artist.-Career:Naruse debuted in Fighting Network RINGS in 1992 where he was displayed as a scrappy junior heavyweight willing to take on opponents twice his size. He and other RINGS wrestlers made the transition to mixed martial...

Japan

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|align=center|0-2
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Japan

Japan

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External links

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