Alexey Nikiforov was born in Yakutsk, Russia on the 18th of January 1991. A promising athlete from an early age, Alexey would have success in various local amateur MMA tournaments and as a result was invited to participate in the Far Eastern Federal District Championships in April 2015. Alexey won his first two bouts but was stopped in the final by Renat Khadzhibekov and was awarded the bantamweight silver medal. 3 months later, Alexey was sunbathing with friends close to the Lena River in Yakutsk when they noticed a 10 year old boy in the water, he was struggling and was clearly drowning so Alexey and 2 of his friends rushed to help. Alexey managed to save the child and pass him to his friends before being swept underwater by strong currents. Despite his friends efforts Alexey did not resurface and emergency services were called. After nearly a full day of searching, Alexey's body was found over 50m away from where he was last seen.