WHEN discussing underappreciated prospects working their way up through the UFC, Magomed Ankalaev stands out for a number of reasons. Yes, he is a skilled grappler and a powerful striker but those are a dime a dozen in MMA’s elite promotions. Ankalaev is made doubly intriguing by representing two areas of constant fascination for the MMA fanbase.
Firstly, Ankalaev is a light heavyweight. The light heavyweight division is ruled by Jon Jones, who has been faultless in his run through two generations of talent. Jones took the title in 2011 and sent the old legends of the division packing as he walked through Quinton Jackson, Mauricio Rua, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans. New light heavyweights emerged and rose to the top—Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Johnson, Daniel Cormier—and yet Jones has outlasted them as well: Gustafsson and Johnson have retired and while Cormier successfully moved up to heavyweight he has one foot out the door.
Not only is Jones the unbeatable champion for whom fans crave a legitimate challenge, he is also an incredibly unlikeable champ as he has been caught with illegal substances in his system multiple times, escaped serious punishment, and now many fans feel the UFC and USADA are working on his behalf to discredit their own findings when his blood work comes back positive for Turinabol before each of his fights. Ankalaev, a knockout punching giant with a pedigree in Greco-Roman wrestling and combat sambo certainly sounds a bit more interesting than waiting for more former middleweights to come up and challenge Jones.
The second fact about Ankalaev that is likely to have MMA fans giddy with excitement for his future is that he is a Dagestani. Even a decade ago there was a certain type of MMA fan obsessed with the idea that no one else would even get a look in at the UFC belts once the Russians arrived. M-1, FNG, ACB and many, many other Russian promotions have existed for years and soaked up much of the Russian talent but the UFC is now finally getting a good share of Russia’s elite.
Fans are particularly interested in Dagestanis. Just three million people live in Dagestan and the region is a melting pot of many different ethnicities and cultures, but for some reason it is a powerhouse in the field of combat sports. Take a quick look at Wikipedia’s list of notable people from Dagestan and you will find that the vast majority of those listed are fighters or wrestlers, with the occasional soldier. The promise that “the Russians are coming” was made good and opened up to the world at large when Dagestan’s own son, Khabib Nurmagomedov smashed Conor McGregor to win the UFC lightweight title in the UFC’s all time most watched fight last year. Now everyone knows about Dagestan, and Ankalaev is the man carrying the flag for the region in the light heavyweight division.
A Colossus Finding His Feet
In his most recent fight, Magomed Ankalaev fought the awkward Klidson Abreu. Abreu was no slouch—a man on a six fight winning streak in which he finished every opponent, five by submission. Abreu had even earned the nickname “The Russian Terror” by defeating numerous Russians in European promotions, but Ankalaev didn’t seem to care about Abreu’s reputation. Ankalaev stalked the Brazilian, let him throw some strikes, got a read on him and suddenly met a duck in after a flurry with a right uppercut.
The result was grizzly. With the first meaningful punch he threw, Ankalaev had shattered Abreu’s nose and from that moment on, the Dagestani devoted himself to trying to work the tip of Abreu’s nose around towards his right ear. By the end of the fight. hard jabs, straights and uppercuts had rendered Abreu almost unrecognisable.
The fight before that Ankalaev had been matched against the decent knockout artist, Marcin Prachnio. Despite a great collection of stoppages and significant power in his own striking, Pachnio was almost immediately put on the back foot and unable to commit to effectively attacking the intimidating Dagestani. Ankalaev decided to fight this bout southpaw and it didn’t seem much trouble to make the switch, because when Prachnio plucked up the courage to try and fight his way off the fence, Ankalaev nailed him with a counter right hook, and sent him stumbling. As Prachnio struggled to recover his balance a head kick sent him down for the TKO.
So how has Ankalaev managed to brutally smash his way to victories in the UFC so quietly? Part of it might be a lack of an engaging personality or Twitter presence, but just as much might be because of the let down that his first fight in the UFC proved to be. Ankalaev was matched against the chinny grappler, Paul Craig. Craig is marvellous on the ground but at 6’3”, he cannot box for love nor money and he has nothing to stop opponents stepping in on him. Ankalaev slapped Craig silly from both stances and on the mat for 99% of the bout, as Craig shot hopeless takedown attempts and pulled guard.
Then in the final seconds, Craig threw up a triangle choke and secured a submission in the final second of the fight. Had Ankalaev held on a second longer (he tapped out almost immediately) he would have undoubtedly won the decision. Craig was coming off a pair of knockout losses in the first round and it seemed like he was being teed up as a softball for the Dagestani monster, so the way that the fight unfolded was a knock to the confidence of even those who had been touting him as the next big thing.
The truth is, of course, that a momentary mistake isn’t always the sign of a larger weakness. Late fight triangle chokes are unlikely to be Ankalaev’s Achilles heel. It was the kind of loss that most pundits and coaches consider a learning opportunity more than anything. While his record in the UFC stands at 2-1, it is more accurate to say that Ankalaev has given up less than a minute of offence to all three of his UFC opponents combined and he is certainly one to keep your eye on.
But Ankalaev represents just one of the many, many remarkable fighters putting together impressive performances to almost no acclaim outside of the UFC main event scene. Hell, this weekend Vicente Luque is fighting—having knocked out or submitted his opponent in 9 out of his 9 UFC victories—and yet no one seems to know him as anything other than the guy who is going to fight the arguably less accomplished but much more meme friendly Mike Perry. When watching the sport it is important to remember that the main event picture and the media buzz are normally the culmination of an already successful fighting career: the creation of remarkable fighters is often chugging along earlier in the night.
