Dagestan can be described as a factory of high-level fighters such as Khabib Nurmagomedov and others from different combat sports.
Many good Dagestan warriors signed in the UFC. For your convenience, we filtered the 13 best Dagestan UFC fighters of all time.
A lot of them are not widely known by the public. With that, below are the best Dagestani fighters you should know about.
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13. Rashid Magomedov
Rashid Magomedov has a good UFC record of five wins and one loss before leaving the roster. He has well-rounded UFC stats of 49% striking accuracy, 54% striking defense, 57% takedown accuracy, and 89% takedown defense.
Magomedov has wins over former Welterweight title contender Gilbert “Durinho” Burns and Bobby Green. He has also fought Beneil Dariush once. The majority of his fights ended with a decision.
Rashid Magomedov is the brother of the famous MMA internet sensation Hasbulla Magomedov. Today, Rashid is fighting under a rising MMA organization in Russia named Absolute Championship Akhmat, previously known as Absolute Championship Berkut.
12. Ali Bagautinov
Ali Bagautinov is 5’4 in height. He is included in the list of shortest UFC fighters. He didn’t let this height disadvantage pull him down as a fighter. Most of his fights can be described as a recreation of “David vs. Goliath.
Ali is a UFC veteran who has fought multiple bouts under the organization. Some of these fights are against Tim Elliott, Joseph Benavidez, One FC’s John Lineker, and Demetrius Johnson in a Flyweight title fight.
Today, Ali is no longer connected with the UFC. Recently he fought pro-Boxer, Ruslan Provodnikov at a charity event and slammed him ferociously to win the match.
11. Ramazan Emeev
Ramazan “Gorets” Emeev entered the UFC in 2017 and has been showing good performance. After his tragic Jack Della Maddalena knockout loss, his latest UFC record is five wins and three losses.
Ramazan is known for having a good gas tank within him. So far, the biggest win of his career is his UFC debut match against Sam “Smile’N” Alvey. He won in a dominating fashion, outstriking Alvey, 38-29.
The beast of a gas tank that he possesses helped him win the majority of his UFC fights via the split or a decisive unanimous decision. Emeev’s only fight that didn’t pass round 1 was against Maddalena.
10. Rustam Khabilov
Rustam “Tiger” Khabilov is a UFC veteran. He started fighting in the UFC way back in 2012. During his UFC journey, he has fought in several weight classes. He experienced fighting as a Lightweight, Middleweight, and Welterweight.
In his career in the UFC, he has fought multiple top-class fighters, such as Jorge Masvidal, Benson Henderson, and Chris Wade. His unanimous decision win over the BMF champ, Jorge Masvidal, is considered one of his biggest career wins.
Today, Khabilov is not with the UFC anymore. You can now watch him fight in Bellator MMA.
Despite the change of organization, he continues to fight at 170lbs.
9. Umar Nurmagomedov
Umar Nurmagomedov is the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov. He has a brother who is also a professional MMA fighter in Bellator named Usman Nurmagomedov. You just can’t mess with the Nurmagomedovs in the streets.
Umar is considered a freshman in the UFC. According to his latest July 2022 UFC stats, he has a 70% striking accuracy and an enormous 80% striking defense. As of June 2022, Umar has a clean record of 15-0; 3 of these 15 wins are fought inside the UFC octagon.
During his newly started UFC run, he now has fought Nate Maness and Brian KelleherSergey Morozov. He is known to hurt his opponent with vicious strikes before choking them out.
8. Askar Askarov
Askar “Bullet” Askarov is a UFC Flyweight who just signed with the organization last 2019. His freshness in the promotion is why he only has a total of 5 fights by July 2022. But these five fights are enough to tell people that Askar might be the next Flyweight title contender.
The bullet is comfortable and ultimately confident with his striking ability. He has an impressive 54% striking accuracy and 57% Strike defense. Askar has fought and won against several Flyweights, such as UFC veteran Joseph Benavidez and Tim Elliott.
Young, healthy, and new to the roster, this kid has a lot of potentials. A Flyweight star in the making.
7. Muslim Salikhov
Muslim “King of Kung Fu” Salikhov is a UFC Welterweight. He does an excellent job at keeping the fight standing, and it is manifested in his updated takedown percentage after his Jingliang fight, which is 77%
After his Li Jinliang loss in UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. Rodriguez, he only has 7 UFC fights. With that, he still has a lot of time to improve and work his way up to the Welterweight leader boards.
Despite the seven current fights in the organization, Muslim has shown his high skill level against low-ranked contenders such as Nordine Taleb, Rickey Rainey, and Francisco Trinaldo.
6. Said Nurmagomedov
Said Nurmagomedov is not a brother of the famous Khabib Nurmagomedov; they’re cousins. Unlike Khabib, Said is a fighter that can surprise you from anywhere. He might start to strike with you at the beginning, and later on, you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of a choke.
Said is a freshman in the UFC organization. As per his last win against Douglas Silva de Andrade, he now has a UFC record of five wins and one loss. Some of his most impressive wins are against mark Striegl and Cody Stamann.
Said knocked out One Championship star, Striegl 51 seconds in round 1. In his next match, he topped this record and submitted Stamann in just 47 seconds.
5. Omari Akhmedov
Omari Akhmedov is a UFC Middleweight who has competed with several Middleweight titans for years. Omari is a well-rounded Mixed Martial Artist; he loves standing up in front of his opponents and exchanging some bombs, and at the same time, he can wrestle with you and tap you out.
As of his last fight against Brad Tavares in UFC 264, Akhmedov has an excellent 65% takedown defense. This solidifies how good he is as an all-around fighter; he doesn’t attack but defends himself well.
Akhmedov has fought former Middleweight champion Chris Weidman. He also had a close battle against Marvin Vettori in UFC 219 that ended up as a draw.
4. Zabit Magomedsharipov
Zabit Magomedsharipov is a Dagestan Featherweight fighter who’s considered one of the most versatile Dagestani fighters in the UFC. Unlike other Russian fighters who are famous for their wrestling, Zabit is known for his speed, power, and the variety of strikes he throws.
Zabit has a clean 6-0 record in the UFC. However, he is forced to stop fighting due to some health problems. Some big-name fighters he defeated are Jeremy Stephens, Calvin Kattar, and Mike Santiago.
After his sudden retirement, he committed to becoming a doctor of medicine. With that, a comeback fight of a fighter the could’ve been the next Featherweight King is nearly impossible.
3. Magomed Ankalaev
Magomed Ankalaev is one of the Light Heavyweight division’s rising title contenders. He has an ongoing 10-fight win streak after his decisive win over former title challenger Thiago Santos. This win over Santos also upgrades his record to 17-1.
This guy hits like a truck; Ankalaev is known for his orthodox style of striking. Some Light Heavyweight beasts that he knocked out are Ion Cutelaba and Marcin Prachnio. Ankalaev has no submission wins on his record; this shows how comfortable he is, standing up.
Magomed has one of the most accurate hands in the UFC. He has a whopping 54% striking accuracy. Good luck on dodging this man’s punches.
2. Islam Makachev
Islam Makachev is the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov. Despite being cousins, the two shares a brotherly relationship; Khabib even corners him during fights. Islam is known for his Sambo fighting style that lets him ragdoll opponents, to the ground.
Some of Islam’s fights that are worth mentioning are against Dan Hooker with a slick kimura finish, Gleison Tibau, and his all-out war with Chris Wade.
After his win over Bobby Green, he’s now a 22-1. Moreover, this win gives him an impressive 10-fight win streak over several Lightweight contenders. With this streak, a title shot is not impossible to come in his hands.
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib, “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov, is probably the most dominant UFC Lightweight. He retired with an impressive undefeated record of 29-0. Khabib is famous for his sambo-style grappling that’s not countered by anyone in his division.
Nurmagomedov is a former Lightweight champion. During his championship reign, he defended his belt against top-ranked strikers such as Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirer, and Conor McGregor. He defeated these strikers via submission; he even slept Gaethje.
Nurmagomedov is now retired without any intention of having a comeback fight. He currently manages his own MMA promotion called Eagle FC. This rising organization has former UFC fighters such as Kevin Lee and Diego Sanchez.
Now that you’re aware of the best that Dagestan has to offer in the UFC (which is definitely a high grade!) you might want to learn about our list of some of the best fighters in the UFC of ALL time.
