It is no secret that many of the fighters who end up being stars in mixed martial arts (MMA) have movie-like stories of improvement. Some even had to spend their days behind the bars of a cell, while others were simply born in a place where poverty was the natural dynamic of that space, so fighting was the only way to get out of there. But if there is a ‘fearsome’ region within the MMA, it is Dagestan, in Russia.
Superstars have emerged from there, such as the current UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, or who acted as his mentor, Conor McGregor’s archenemy, Khabib Nurmagomedovwho was one of the most dominant champions in history and retired undefeated with a record of 29-0. Precisely, the latter has recently shared an anecdote about what his street fights were like, when they were very young, in his place of origin.
«One time we were in a supermarket, and my friends took some cologne and threw it on another friend. Then a security guard came, and when he arrived, he went crazy. There were five of us, five friends against just him. But he just said, ‘Okay guys, okay, I’ll be right back.’ He left and returned with four more boys. Now we were five against five. “There were also other workers in the supermarket, women,” Khabib begins during an interview.
«When we started fighting, one of them hit me in the head with something two or three times, but I was fine. It was a crazy fight that lasted about 10 minutes. After that, we all shook hands. “They could have said: ‘I’ll wait a while and look for you again to fight,’ but not when you shake hands,” said the former Russian champion, who pointed out that, in his region, there have always been codes of honor, even in the out-of-competition combats.
Without a doubt, the Dagestanis are one of the most successful strains in both Olympic wrestling and mixed martial arts and, in fact, they have dozens of world champions in these disciplines. A ‘warrior’ territory in which some of the biggest stars are forged.
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