History Wrestling / AndreiKopylov

* ForWantOfANail:
** His fight with Minotauro Nogueira was really close, with them evenly matched on the ground and despite being allowed only palm strikes to the face due to forgoing gloves, matched and sometimes even got the better of Nogueira in the stand-up, and that was after the first round where he used up all his stamina. In fact, only one of the judges, Jon Bluming, gave the win to Nogueira, with the others giving it a draw.
** Had he reacted a second before, he would have a kneebar victory over Mario Sperry in his record.

** Both local and foreign powers during the King of Kings tournament are certain Leonardo Castelo Branco was one of the best fighters in the card and would have likely reached the finals. However, he ran into Kopylov.
** His own fight with Minotauro Nogueira was really close, with them evenly matched on the ground and despite being allowed only palm strikes to the face due to forgoing gloves, matched and sometimes even got the better of Nogueira in the stand up, and that was after the first round where he used up all his stamina. In fact only one of the judges, Jon Bluming, gave the win to Nogueira, with the others giving it was a draw.

* UnknownRival: He views fellow Russian Igor Borishov from [[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederationSeikendo Seikendo]] as this in their sambo days. Despite having officially one win each against each other in competition, according to Kopylov, Igor couldn't do anything to him both times and only won one of the matches on a technicality.

* GlassCannon: Stamina example, as opposed to defense. Kopylov was actually as difficult to submit as good submitting people, and he didn't lack toughness either, but he lacked the cardio to follow up with his offense through the matches.

* InstantExpert: As mentioned, Kopylov tapped his own master, who was a sambo champion himself, after mere months of training. He was [[TeenGenius 17]] at the time.

* RedBaron: "{{Shinigami}} Sambist" and "Russia no Higuma" ("The Russian Brown Bear").

* WorthyOpponent: Apparently, this was the Brazilians's opinion of him due to his grappling feats.

* ThreeAmigos: Was part of the Russian "B" team along with Nikolai Zouev and Vladimir Klementiev for the World Mega Battle Tournament of 1998.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Inverted. He wore wrestling shoes in MMA if the ruleset allowed it.

* AttackAttackAttack: His fighting style, nicknamed "Kopylov Yoiken" ("Kopylov's DrunkenBoxing") by the commentators, involved overwhelming his opponent with submission attempts in order to end the bout as soon as possible. He once had Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira of all people stuck in the defending role for one round.

* TheDreaded: After watching Kopylov in action, even the reigning UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu practitioners of the time realized that trying to engage him on the ground was playing [[StealthPun Russian roulette]] at its finest. Minotauro Nogueira ditched groundwork after a round struggling with Andrei on the mat, preferring instead trying luck on the stand-up despite not knowing if he could best him there, and Nogueira's trainer and multiple world champion Mario Sperry literally panicked out during his match with Kopylov when he felt him grabbing his leg.
* EmbarrassingNickname: A rather positive example. After his shocking victory over Castello Branco, Brazilian people nicknamed him "Vovo Sapateiro" ("Grandpa Shoemaker") due to his wizened looks and footlock expertise.
* EscapeArtist: Got threatened with several rear naked chokes and armbars in his match with Ricardo Arona, and escaped unscathed from all of them.

* ForWantOfANail: Had he reacted a second before, he would have a kneebar victory over Mario Sperry in his record.
** His fight with Minotauro Nogueira was really close, with them evenly matched on the ground and despite being allowed only palm strikes to the face due to forgoing gloves, matched and sometimes even got the better of Nogueira in the stand up, and that was after the first round where he used up all his stamina. In fact only one of the judges, Jon Bluming, gave the win to Nogueira, the others thought it was a draw.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Who would have thought that a fighter who looked, moved and punched like an octogenarian could submit people in under a minute?

* OhCrap: Tended to elicit this reaction on his opponents when they realized how good he was on the ground. Averted with Castelo Branco, who didn't realize it until it was too late.

* RedBaron: "{{Shinigami}} Sambist", "Russia no Higuma" ("The Russian Brown Bear").

* SurpassedTheTeacher: His sambo master was his girlfriend's father who got him interested in sambo, and Kopylov once actually beat him fair and clean. Considering that coach was the famous Alexander Fedorov, it was quite a feat.

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: He once tried a dropkick on Chris Dolman and once cleanly connected with a running enzuigiri of all things on Pavel Orlov and even got him in a single leg Boston Crab. He also once tried an abisegiri or rolling heel kick on Mitsuya Nagai.

* InstantExpert: As mentioned, Kopylov tapped his own master, who was a sambo champion himself, after mere months of training.

* SurpassedTheTeacher: His sambo master was his girlfriend's father who got him interested in sambo, and Kopylov once actually beat him fair and clean.

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: He once tried a dropkick on Chris Dolman and once cleanly connected with a running enzuigiri of all things on Pavel Orlov. He also once tried an abisegiri or rolling heel kick on Mitsuya Nagai.

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: He once tried a dropkick on Chris Dolman and once cleanly connected with a running enzuigiri of all things on Sotir Gotchev. He also once tried an abisegiri or rolling heel kick on Mitsuya Nagai.

* BaldOfAwesome: Not completely bald, but he lacked a lot of hair on top.

* BadassMustache[=/=]PornStache: Sported a walrus mustache to complete his plumber looks.

As usual, you can find the basics at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Kopylov The Other Wiki]].

'''Andrei Kopylov''' is a UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n sambist, {{professional wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts fighter. He started his career as a regular sportsman, but he switched to the martial art of sambo, and he proved to be a rising star when he tapped out his own coach after only some months of training. Soon he was competing at national scale, winning medals and championships at two weight categories, but his plans to challenge for the world title were derailed by the political situation of USSR. For that reason, Kopylov left sambo behind and embraced professional wrestling, joining Wrestling/AkiraMaeda in his promotion [[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation Fighting Network RINGS]]. He would become an instant fan favourite for his ridiculously anodine looks and no less ridiculously brilliant grappling, and RINGS's transition to MMA only served to propel him even higher with an outstanding performance at the first King of Kings Tournament. However, the age and scars soon took their price, and Kopylov wandered through RINGS brands until joining Wrestling/VolkHan to form the famous Russian Top Team, mentoring dudes like Fedor Emelianenko and Sergei Kharitonov.

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: He once tried a dropkick on Chris Dolman and once cleanly connected with a running enzuigiri of all things on Sotir Gotchev.