Pomorie to the Cage: The Making of Sotir Kichukov
How a kid from the old coastal town of Anchialo became the first Bulgarian in ONE Championship and now shapes fighters in Melbourne.
The boy from the old town by the sea
On Bulgaria's Black Sea coast sits Pomorie, a narrow arm of land reaching out into the water. The people who founded it long ago called it Anchialo, a name that still carries salt, stone and a very old memory. Sotir Kichukov was born and raised here, and the town gave him far more than a home. It gave him the name he now fights and coaches under, and the character that runs underneath everything he teaches.
Long before any international cage, there was a coastal kid with restless energy and the quiet question a lot of young fighters ask themselves. How far could this actually go?
Walking into Warrior MMA
In 2006 he started to find out. He walked into Warrior MMA in Pomorie and began training under coach Teodor Karastoyanov. That first room, on that stretch of coast, is where the foundations were poured. Striking and grappling, patience and repetition, the slow work of turning raw willingness into real skill.
Everything that came later, on three continents, traces back to a small gym in a Black Sea town and a coach who took a local kid seriously.
A champion at the second attempt
By 2008 the work was already showing. Kichukov became a Bulgarian kickboxing champion, and by his own account it happened at only his second competition. It was an early sign of something that would define his career, a fighter who arrives prepared and treats readiness as a discipline rather than a mood.
Turning professional in Max Fight
In 2009 he turned professional in mixed martial arts. He debuted at Max Fight 7 and won by submission in the first round, then built a dominant run inside Bulgaria's Max Fight promotion. That run carried him to the Max Fight bantamweight championship. The stand up game that started in kickboxing now had a grappling engine beside it, and opponents had to solve two problems at once.
The first Bulgarian in ONE Championship
Around 2015 came the moment that put a whole country on the map. Kichukov is recognised as the first Bulgarian to compete in ONE Championship, a major international promotion. He fought at flyweight, sharing the cage with names such as Ma Hao Bin and Danny Kingad, and stepping up for a catchweight bout against Mark Striegl. For a fighter from a small coastal town, this was the big stage, and he earned his place on it.
Teaching on the mats of Saigon
Kichukov's path was never only about his own fights. He trained and coached at Saigon Sports Club in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, working as a professional fighter and a coach at the same time. Living inside two roles at once sharpened the way he breaks the sport down for other people. He learned to compete and to teach in the same breath, which is exactly the coach a serious student wants in their corner.
Landing in Melbourne
Eventually the road led to Melbourne. He competed in Australia under Eternal MMA, including a 2021 bantamweight title bout against Paul Loga, and he now coaches at Immersion Mixed Martial Arts. He is also the founder of CPT, Combat and Performance Training, built around a simple promise of enhancing performance, prehab, rehab and coaching practical martial arts. He is a certified ACE personal trainer and is studying to become a Corrective Exercise Specialist, and he coaches MMA, kickboxing, boxing, wrestling and grappling.
By his own framing it adds up to 31 professional fights across 3 continents and more than 19 years of coaching experience, built across ONE Championship, Max Fight and WFCA. He states that he holds the highest record of any flyweight in Australia and New Zealand, going by the Tapology Australia rankings. However you read the numbers, the journey behind them is real and rare.
What Pomorie taught him to teach
Ask what a session with Kichukov is actually about and the answer sits close to the values that carried him off the coast. Readiness and always being prepared. Resilience through setbacks. A complete and balanced skill set that respects both striking and grappling. Movement mechanics, fight IQ and nutrition, taught with the same care whether the person in front of him is a competing fighter, an athlete from another sport, or an everyday professional who simply wants to move and think better.
He teaches classes in Melbourne, including a 6pm session, and offers trial sessions for anyone who wants to feel the difference for themselves. The road from Anchialo to the cage was long. The lessons it left behind are now waiting on the mats, a short drive across town.
