Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammate Ibragim Ibragimov admits that his name may have held him back from getting more regional fights in his early career.
The 20-year-old trains with the likes of Khabib and Islam Makhachev in Dagestan for his fights, and was signed to PFL last year where he has been able to keep up an active run. His third fight in seven months takes place on Saturday at Champions Series in Dubai against Irishman Kenny Mokhonoana.
Prior to signing with the promotion, Ibragimov admits that he struggled to get matched on the regional scene in the UK, where he is based during his out of camp training. And his coaches even told him to take on the name of a major pop star to garner more attention from matchmakers.
- Who is Khabib Nurmagomedov? Inside the life of the most dominant UFC fighter of all time
Ibragim Ibragimov details the struggles of fighting on the regional circuit with his surname
Ibragim Ibragimov was signed up to the PFL days before his 20th birthday, as a teenager with a 5-0 record and an impressive amateur run to his name. However, he feels that it could have been even better if every fighter who was offered a bout with him had accepted.
Between the fact he came to the UK from Dagestan and his training with the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov and the Eagle MMA team, many regional fighters were not keen to be matched with him. “I had issues at the start because nobody wanted to fight me,” he told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat.
“If the people who were asked took the fights with me then at this stage I’d be 20-0. It’s been a big problem for me. There were not many people to fight me.
“But now in PFL they give me this opportunity and I managed to get fights and stay active… Everybody says ‘you don’t take a fight with a guy whose surname ends with ‘ev’ or ‘mov’.”
Ibragim Ibragimov was told to change his name to Lewis Capaldi by coaches
In the Manchester Top Team gym, Ibragimov became known as Lewis Capaldi to coaches due to his resemblance in his younger years to the pop star. He even joked that maybe if that were his new name then maybe he would have been more successful at getting fights.
“My coach was saying to me get yourself a new name,” he recalled. “And what was that guy’s name, Lewis Capaldi? Apparently when I came to the gym I looked like him, so my coach was like ‘Lewis Capaldi Lewis Capaldi’.
“I had long hair and stuff so my coach said I looked like him and he told me ‘maybe we change your name you’ll get more fights and stuff’. He still sometimes call me that whenever I get long hair.
“I was confused as to who he was. So I googled him and I saw the guy kind of, maybe, has some pictures where he looks like me!”
- Who is Islam Makhachev? Step inside the life of the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet