Rafik Aleksanyan Becomes Youth MMA World Champion

Armenian athlete Rafik Aleksanyan has won a gold medal at the 2026 IMMAF Youth World Championships in Abu Dhabi. Aleksanyan became world champion in the 65.8 kg weight category.

The Armenian representative claimed six victories on his way to the title. In the group stage, Aleksanyan finished all three of his bouts early, defeating opponents from Mexico, Kazakhstan and the UAE. All three fights ended by submission.

In the quarterfinals, the Armenian fighter once again secured an early victory, defeating his Bulgarian opponent by submission. In the semifinals, Aleksanyan beat a fighter from Tajikistan by unanimous decision.

In the final, Rafik faced a representative of Uzbekistan and earned another unanimous-decision victory to claim the world championship title.

Overall, Aleksanyan fought six times at the tournament in Abu Dhabi and won all six bouts, with four of those victories coming before the final bell.

Earlier at the World Championships, Sos Martirosyan, who competes in the under-12 age category, won a bronze medal for the Armenian national team.

For Rafik Aleksanyan, this is already his second major international medal of 2026. In February, he won bronze at the IMMAF European Championships in the 61.2 kg weight category.