Representing the Russian Mixed Martial Arts Union, Olga Lagodnaya incredibly became world champion at the age of 42 in January 2022 in Abu Dhabi.

She won the 2021 world title in the women's lightweight class.

Lagodnaya defeated Aizhan Abdykadyr of Kazakhstan, who was 21 and more than 20 years younger, in the final.

Bahrain's Rasul Magomedov enjoyed a superb 2021-2022 in the men's heavyweight division.

He was the only athlete across all the men's and women's classes to complete the treble of the World Cup, European Open and World Championships.

At the 2021 Worlds in Abu Dhabi, he won his final by split decision against Shamil Kuramagomedov of the RMMAU.

Fergus Jenkins won the men's middleweight world title for New Zealand at the 2021 IMMAF World Championships, held in January 2022 in Abu Dhabi.

Amazingly, this was the first major tournament for Jenkins.

He defeated Jordan's World Cup winner Hazem Kayyali en-route to the final, where he earned a split decision against Iusup Magomedov of the RMMAU.

Before the final, he was honoured with a haka performed by New Zealand staff.

New Zealand's Michelle Montague has had a short but impactful IMMAF career so far, and made her debut at the 2019 World Mixed Martial Arts Association Oceania Open Championships with a winning effort over Mel Webster via kneebar submission.

Montague then enjoyed superb displays in the lightweight division.

In a rematch with fellow New Zealander Webster, Montague won her first world title in 2019, winning in 99 seconds with an armbar submission.

Montague then won her second IMMAF Oceania Open Championship in 2020 with a second round win over Finland's Jenni Kivioja via armbar submission, in the process winning her sixth match and continuing her unbeaten record.

At the 2021 World Championships, Montague attempted to become a two-weight world champion by dropping into the featherweight ranks.

She lost in the semi-finals to Bahrain's Sabrina Laurentina De Sousa and went home with bronze.

Montague has now turned professional.

Nickname: The Wild One

Bagdat Zhubanysh of Kazakhstan fights in the men's strawweight division, the lightest weight category for men, and had a bright start to his career in MMA.

In 2018, he started in IMMAF-sanctioned competition by winning the world title, being awarded the decision unanimously in the final against Ukraine's Roman Syrkin.

However, 2019 was a more memorable year after he won the Asian Open and the senior world title again.

A triangle choke hold followed by an armbar submission won him the Asian Open early in the year, before he progressed to the biggest stage.

Two unanimous decisions were followed by a split decision victory over compatriot Sagyn Kazbek in the final.

Zhubanysh then became the first athlete to ever win three IMMAF world titles by defending his crown at the 2021 event, held in Abu Dhabi in January 2022.

He claimed a clear decision win over the RMMAU's Farkhod Rakhmonaliev in the final.

In May 2022, Zhubanysh announced that he would be turning professional. 

Muhammad Mokaev is one of the first developmental graduates to advance to professional MMA through the IMMAF structure, making him one of the hottest prospects in the sport.

Born in Dagestan in Russia, Mokaev has made his home in England and started his career in Manchester at the age of 15. 

His winning streak at amateur level ended at a colossal 23-0 before he made the switch to the professional ranks in 2020. 

As a junior, Mokaev won the world title twice in the men's bantamweight division - on both occasions after defeating Japan's Reo Yamaguchi by unanimous decision.

He also won the 2019 IMMAF European Junior Championships against Yamaguchi.

Mokaev made his professional debut in August 2020 by winning via unanimous decision against Glenn McVeigh of Northern Ireland.

He joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship and won his opening bout in March 2022 against Cody Durden in London.

Nickname: The Punisher

Russian-born Bahrain athlete Pasha Kharkhachaev has been a dominant force in the men's super heavyweight class, winning two world, one European and one Asian title.

His first six bouts ended by either knockout or technical knockout, all finishing after one round.

Kharkhachaev won the 2019 world final against Rassul Khatayev of Kazakhstan.

His 2018 world title was won in just 44 seconds, after he knocked out Grigory Ponomarev of Russia.

He attempted to win a third world title at the 2021 event in Abu Dhabi, but suffered a shock loss in the semi-finals to eventual winner Shamsutdin Makhmudov.

This was the first defeat of his career.

After periods fluctuating between weight divisions, Bezan Mahmudi has thrived after finding her home in the atomweight class, the lightest in women's MMA.

Although she suffered losses at bantamweight, strawweight and flyweight, the Swedish fighter won the 2019 world title and the 2020 Oceania Open in her new class.

She won by unanimous decision over Ayan Tursyn of Bahrain at the 2019 IMMAF World Championships, and then claimed victory over Magdalena Czaban of Poland at the Oceania Open, continuing a run of four straight wins in the division.

Mahmudi could not attend the 2021 World Championships amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ukraine's Anastasiya Svetkivska had one of the clearest paths to victory at the 2019 IMMAF World Championships, as she forced her opponents to tap out via armbar in all three of her women's strawweight matches.

This included her final bout against Australia's Olivia Ukmar as she added to her European Open title victory earlier in the year, where she was given the unanimous decision against Sweden's Nina Back.

Russia's Gadzhimurad Bagautdinov became world champion in the men's heavyweight division in 2019, but his road to the title showed a true test of character.

His first defeat in IMMAF-sanctioned competition came at the Russian MMA Championships in early 2019 to Shamil Kuramagomedov, before he lost the IMMAF European Championship final to another compatriot, Shamil Gaziev.

In true Hollywood fashion, Bagautdinov made Gaziev tap out in the semi-finals of the 2019 IMMAF World Championships with a rear naked choke in the first round, before he defeated Kuramagomedov by unanimous decision in the final.

Another graduate to professionalism, Bahrain's Murtaza Talha Ali enjoyed 13 victories at amateur level.

A veteran of amateur MMA, Ali was crowned as 2017 world champion in the light-heavyweight class after a win in the final against Pavel Pahomenko, also fighting out of Bahrain.

After a European Open title victory in 2018, Ali won the 2019 world title as well and rounded off his amateur career with victory over Australia’s Patrick Best at the Oceania Open.

In November 2020, Ali made the switch to professionalism, defeating Belarus' Vadim Litvin in his first bout, before adding Russia's Dmitriy Krivulets to his list of defeated fighters in January 2021.

Bahrain's Ramazan Gitinov slowly made himself a top contender in the welterweight division, having won at the 2019 and 2021 IMMAF World Championships.

It took him some time to find his feet after early career losses at the 2017 IMMAF Africa Open Championships and the 2017 IMMAF World Championships, but since then he has been on a superb streak which saw him win the Asian, European and world titles in 2019.

Gitinov won his second world title in Abu Dhabi at the 2021 edition.

Russia's Murad Umachiev has a superb record in amateur MMA, following the 2019 season where he claimed both the Russian MMA title and the IMMAF world title in the lightweight division.

His victory in the latter came after five successive unanimous decisions, showing his dominance throughout the competition.

Sweden's Bianca Antman is the 2019 world champion in the women's strawweight class, but did not defend her crown in 2021 after turning professional.

Antman sealed the world title with victory over New Zealand's Hannah Dawson in the second round with a rear naked choke.

In 2020, she won the Oceania Open Championship after forcing Dawson's compatriot Jessica Bradley to tap out in the opening round, having locked on an armbar.

Antman turned professional in August 2020, winning her first bout in a match with Finland's Veera Nykanen.

In the women's bantamweight division, Guangmei Han is one of China's best prospects following her unanimous decision victory over Ireland's Shauna Bannon in the 2019 World Championship final.

Han was also a unanimous victor over Sora Rakhmonova of Kazakhstan at the 2019 Asian Open.

A double world champion in the women's featherweight class, Sabrina Laurentina de Sousa has shown her submission and punching prowess so far in her amateur career.

The Bahrain athlete made all of her opponents tap out during the 2019 IMMAF World Championships - with her opening win coming via knee bar submission before she ended her next three matches via armbar.

Jasmine Favero was her opponent in the final as De Sousa claimed her first world title.

At the 2021 World Championships, De Sousa produced a punching masterclass to defeat Norway's Cecilie Bolander in the final.

Russia's Gadzhimurad Zavaev began his IMMAF-sanctioned career in 2015.

Since then, he has won two Russian MMA titles, as well as the men's bantamweight world title in 2019.

Ukraine's 2019 flyweight world champion Ata Atdayev is a professional graduate who made the move after unanimous final victories at the 2019 IMMAF European and World Championships respectively.

Having tasted defeat at the 2018 World Championships, Atdayev remained undefeated for the rest of his amateur career. His final bout came against Israel Galvan of the United States in the world final before he opted to turn pro.

Atdayev won both of his first two professional bouts, one by referee stoppage and one via a guillotine choke submission.