Early Life and Training
Zinoviev grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia. Sickly and weak as a youth due to meningitis, he was unable to walk until the age of four. To overcome this handicap, he swam for exercise, becoming skilled enough that he entered a Russian sports academy. There, he trained in boxing, judo, and Combat sambo. When he came of age, he enlisted in the Soviet army, spending two years in an elite special forces squad, followed by four years on a municipal police force after his discharge from the army. Like many Russian mixed martial artists, he received further training while serving in the Russian military and police forces.
Read more about this topic: Igor Zinoviev
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