\u2018100 per cent\u2019: How Volk set blueprint to conquer UFC\u2019s bogeyman… with one change<\/a><\/p>\nRussia’s Islam Makhachev reacts after his Lightweight bout against Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski during the Ultimate Fighting Championship 294 (UFC)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Cormier wasn\u2019t surprised by the remark. He\u2019s seen just how good these guys are first-hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s new to the world, but it\u2019s not new to us, the guys that have done international wrestling, guys that have been around the world championships,\u201d Cormier told MMA Fighting regarding athletes from the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got my third place medal at the worlds, Russia had maybe five world champs or six, and they had a third [place]. Most of those guys were from Dagestan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just know how to wrestle. I knew the moment I saw Khabib and then I saw Islam, I was like uh-oh, the Dagestanis are starting to do mixed martial arts, it\u2019s a problem for the world. That\u2019s absolutely what has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what is it about Dagestan that makes it a fighting superpower?<\/p>\n
The answer is complex, but it\u2019s got a lot to do with the rugged geography of the area and the culture and history of those who live there.<\/p>\n
Dagestan has a particularly violent past, with empires like the Mongols, Persians and Ottomans all attempting to conquer the high-altitude region – so all men are expected to fight.<\/p>\n
Wrestling, which needs very little equipment, became an important way to produce warriors, and a point of community pride in the isolated mountain villages.<\/p>\n
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov of Russia carries his champions belt as he is escorted by fans upon the arrival in Makhachkala on October 8, 2018.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Fighters will often train three times a day, with a heavy emphasis on sparring and grappling drills.<\/p>\n
Morning runs through the mountains are routine, with Khabib once revealing that most of his training was done outdoors while he was a teenager.<\/p>\n
\u201cRunning, lifting stones and fighting on the grass. Only once a week we had training on carpet,\u201d he said in a 2021 interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone needs to stay hungry. Your hunger is your most powerful internal engine. If you have everything now, what else do you need? You won\u2019t work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Training isn\u2019t just a nine-to-five affair, either – it often runs deep into the evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes until 12, 11PM\u2026 I was going to training,\u201d Khabib said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI train three times a day, come home, I have five or six hours to rest because seven in the morning is going to come new training.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vision showing UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov fighting a bear as a boy.Source: YouTube<\/p>\n
Faith is another reason Dagestani fighters stay locked in. <\/p>\n
In a region where Islam guides daily life, there is little room for partying or noise to make fighters lose focus.<\/p>\n
Khabib has become a national hero to the people – and some experts believe that Makhachev is even better than his legendary mentor.<\/p>\n
\u201cDana [White] came out a couple weeks ago and said that when he talked to Dustin [Poirier] after the fight (against Nurmagomedov), he said he was freaking out or it was Dustin or Conor [McGregor], one of them was freaking out because they said they never thought another man that can do that to them under Khabib,\u201d Cormier said on his YouTube channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of his strength and his control and the way that he manipulated you on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Makhachev possesses a lot of those same types of qualities. Very similar when he gets you on the ground but because he\u2019s a better striker, I feel he is even more dangerous than Khabib was during his prime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Della Maddalena is readying himself for the toughest test of his MMA careerSource: AP<\/p>\n
Perosh said he doesn\u2019t like to compare the two fighters, because \u201cwithout Khabib, we wouldn\u2019t have Islam\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the name \u2018Dagestani wrestling\u2019 will put fear into people,\u201d says Perosh.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019ve gotta get past the name and not put anyone on a pedestal. Just deal with their technique.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason it\u2019s so popular is that it works. The style of getting on top, staying on top and finishing is working. It\u2019s what I wish all BJJ blackbelts would do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to take somebody down, but harder to keep somebody down. That\u2019s why they [Dagestanis] are so good. Relentless pressure. It\u2019s nothing new – they are just doing it really well. It\u2019s what BJJ guys used to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khabib\u2019s back in Makhachev\u2019s corner for the New York showdown this weekend, preaching the same gospel that\u2019s defined Dagestan\u2019s dominance – take him to the canvas and drown him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a secret,\u201d Makhachev told ESPN.<\/p>\n
‘For Volk’: JDM eyes finish in MSG | 01:53<\/p>\n
\u201c[Nurmagomedov] told me take him down, try to take him down and make him tired. I think I can finish him on the ground. I can choke him, do an armbar, something.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw his skills on the ground. He\u2019s good, but I have something more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Della Maddalena, who has Australian BJJ legend Craig Jones in his corner helping fine-tune his grappling ahead of the title defense, says Makhachev is in for a shock.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably thinks he will take me down, hold me down and submit me,\u201d says JDM.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think with the grappling I\u2019ll be able to surprise him.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the same goes for when the pair are standing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we will spend a lot of this fight on our feet and I think I\u2019ll be able to surprise him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Islam Makhachev squares off with Australia\u2019s Jack Della Maddalena next weekend, he won\u2019t just be fighting for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-275152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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