Islam Makhachev has released an interesting video, of an up-and-coming fighter who’s left his homeland, to learn the ropes of Sambo in Dagestan.
The region, located, in Russia, is renowned for creating some of the greatest competitors in all of MMA, with not just the UFC lightweight champion hailing from the area, but Khabib Nurmagomedov too.
And while Ilia Topuria slammed Dagestani fighters in a bid to annoy Makhachev, there’s no denying that there’s something special going on there.
Now, a non-Russian competitor has taken a flight to try and soak up some words of wisdom from the best grapplers on the planet.
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Fighter travels from Spain to train with Islam Makhachev
During an interview on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel, Islam Makhachev attempted to convince the former two-weight champion to send his son to Dagestan to improve his wrestling.
The pound-for-pound number one, said: “If you want your son to have high-level wrestling, send him 2-3 years in Dagestan and forget. Six months, one time, you can call him.”
Now, it appears somebody has genuinely left their homeland in pursuit of wrestling brilliance, with Makhachev uploading a clip to his Instagram story of himself interviewing a prospect.
He asked the Spanish fighter, “Como estas, amigo?” This, of course, translates to, ‘How are you, friend?”
The athlete replied: “Good, but so tired.”
Makhachev then asked: “Barcelona number one?”
The prospect fired back: “No, Madrid, number one.”
The UFC star then exclaimed: “First guy who come to Dagestan, for two-three years, send him to Dagestan.”
‘You’re a very big star there’… Islam Makhachev invites UFC legend to go to Dagestan
While Makhachev has previously tried to get Cormier to visit his homeland, ‘DC’ isn’t the only major name the grappler has tried to convince to visit him.
The 33-year-old adores the area, and would love to show the biggest stars in the sport, what it’s like.
Recently, Makhachev invited one of the all-time greats to come and see Dagestan for himself.