Khabib and all-all-all: which of the Russians will perform in the UFC in October

UFC Fight Island 4

Date and venue:

October 3, Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Roman Kopylov

- Tom Breeze (fight canceled)

As part of the October UFC starting tournament, Roman Kopylov was supposed to play his second fight in the Absolute Fighting Championship.

Former M-1 Global Middleweight Champion made his debut at a show in Moscow, where he was hurt by Karl Roberson. 

Kopylov had to try to rehabilitate himself for failure and prove that he deserves to play in the UFC, although the British fighter was the favorite of the confrontation with Tom Breeze.

However, on September 28 it became known that the fight would not take place.

According to the team of the Russian athlete, Roman passed a positive test for coronavirus and now has to be in quarantine for 14 days.

According to Kopylov, he still expects to perform at one of the UFC tournaments after passing a negative test for COVID-19.

UFC

Fight

Island 5

Date and place:

October 10, Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Tagir Ulanbekov

- Bruno Silva

Tagir Ulanbekov will make his UFC debut on October 10.

Khabib's teammate was supposed to perform back in July, but withdrew from the tournament due to the death of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

As a result, the fight was postponed twice - first to September, and then to October.

Moreover, in the process, the rival also changed.

The place of the Ukrainian Alexander Doskalchuk, convicted of using illegal drugs, was taken by the Brazilian Bruno Silva.

The Russian is considered the undisputed favorite and is unlikely to experience serious problems in a Brazilian fight.

Silva is not too fast for the lightest weight and has enough weaknesses - he does not look very confident on the ground and clinch, which suits Ulanbekov.

Previously, Tagir has repeatedly demonstrated his skills in these aspects and will certainly try to repeat this in the upcoming duel.

Ufc

fight

island 6

Date and place:

October 17, Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Muslim Salikhov

- Claudio Silva,

- Mateush Hamrot,

-

,

- Mark Strigl

As with the second event, the UFC has not released the final card for the third October show at this time.

But if you believe the authoritative portal Tapology, five fighters from Russia will perform there.

Moreover, two of them will become participants in the second purely Russian confrontation in the history of the largest MMA promotion on the planet.

Gadzhimurad Antigulov will try to break the streak of three defeats in a row, and his opponent will be the recent debutant Maxim Grishin.

The last time both went to the octagon in July, but did not succeed.

At the same time, Grishin was forced to fight on short notice, and even not in his usual weight category.

It is not surprising that he could not compete with Marcin Tybura.

Antigulov started the duel with Paul Craig well, but got carried away a little and fell into the triangle.

Usually, the UFC does not stand on ceremony with its fighters and fires them in the event of three defeats in a row, but Gadzhimurad is still lucky.

However, another defeat may well cost him a contract with the championship.

For recent failures, two more Russians will try to rehabilitate themselves.

Said Nurmagomedov will test Mark Strigl, who has no experience of playing in the UFC.

Initially, the Filipino's debut was supposed to take place in a duel with Timur Valiev in August, but a positive test for coronavirus forced him to withdraw from the show.

Now Striglu will have to fight an even more dangerous opponent who has already established himself in the organization.

The Russian has two victories, one of which was obtained in a battle with a bright drummer Justin Scoggins.

The talented Mateusz Hamrot will become the opponent of Magomed Mustafayev.

The Pole became famous in local promotions, where he won 17 victories and never lost, and also achieved success in the grappling championships.

He has twice won the ADCC European Championships and won them twice more.

However, he won only four times by submission.

Mustafayev will be extremely motivated after an offensive defeat by Brad Riddell.

Magomed completely surpassed his opponent in the fight and spent eight takedowns, but this was not enough.

This time it will be much more dangerous to transfer the enemy to the ground, therefore Mustafayev's plan for battle is of particular interest.

In the stand, the Pole misses a lot, which the Russian can use.

Muslim Salikhov will also have a difficult time.

He has a series of four victories, but the Russian will be opposed by an athlete who has not lost since November 2007.

In his debut fight in MMA, Claudio Silva was disqualified, after which he won 14 fights in a row.

Today he could very well be among the top ten welterweights of the promotion, if not for frequent injuries.

The Brazilian was withdrawn from battles four times due to various kinds of damage, and the longest break lasted about three and a half years.

In many ways, success in the upcoming fight will depend on whether Salikhov can quickly knock out Silva, or at least not let him get to his feet.

In the stance, Muslim will have an overwhelming advantage, but he will have to be very difficult on the ground.

Claudio owns a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has won nine submissions.

Ufc 254

Date and place:

October 24, Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Khabib Nurmagomedov

- Justin Gatji,

- Walt Harris,

- Rafael Dos Anjos,

- Ion Kutselaba,

- Sergey Morozov

In the main event of UFC 254, the highly anticipated duel between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje will take place, which needs no introduction.

But four more fighters from Russia will perform at the tournament in the UAE.

Of particular attention is the fight with the participation of Khabib's partner in the team, Islam Makhachev and Rafael Dos Anjos.

In 2015, the Brazilian defeated Anthony Pettis and won the lightweight title, but subsequently lost it and moved up to a higher category.

In the division up to 77 kg, he was not so successful, and his best achievement was the performance in the battle for the interim belt.

Having won only four of eight fights, Dos Anjos decided to return back, and Makhachev should become his first opponent.

For Islam, this is an opportunity not only to rise to the top ten, but also to declare itself as a top-level fighter.

Until now, he has not met such stellar opponents, so he slowly climbed the ratings.

On paper, Makhachev not only has a chance of defeating the ex-champion, but can also be considered a favorite.

Dos Años is not in the best shape, and a tougher weight race can affect his physical condition.

Plus, Khabib has already defeated Raphael and will probably give valuable advice to his teammate.

Alexander Volkov will try to solve two problems at once: to stay in the top six of the strongest heavyweights and start another campaign for the championship.

After losing to Blades, he dropped out of the title race, and only a series of victories will help him return there.

The first "victim" may be Walt Harris, who is also recovering from an unsuccessful battle.

In May, he was on the verge of defeating Alistair Overeem, but let him come to his senses and lost.

In general, Harris can be called a convenient opponent for Volkov.

He is much inferior in size and arm length, practically does not resort to wrestling and relies solely on a powerful blow.

If Alexander approaches the battle in good shape and shows his usual footwork, he will be able to calmly “fire” Walt from a distance for three rounds.

Also, a revenge between Magomed Ankalaev and Ion Kutselaba is announced for the tournament.

The fight was canceled twice due to a positive test of a Moldovan for COVID-19, and on social networks, many began to compare the fight with a duel between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson.

Nevertheless, so far this only increases the level of expectations from the confrontation, which promises to turn out to be very bright.

The first fight ended with a rather controversial stop.

Ankalaev solidly shook Kutselaba, but he was on his feet and even tried to fight back when the referee considered him a defeat.

The Moldovan was extremely dissatisfied with this verdict and demanded revenge, to which the Russian agreed.

Magomed is considered the favorite, and if successful, he may well enter the top 15 light heavyweight.

Also at UFC 254, Khabib's cousin Umar Nurmagomedov will debut.

For him, this will be the third attempt to fight the first fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He did not meet with Hunter Azur because of the coronavirus, and Nathaniel Wood because of the death of Abdulmanap.

Now his rival should be Kazakhstani Sergey Morozov, who has never fought under the auspices of a promotion before.

Umar has already managed to make a couple of loud statements and challenge Pyotr Jan.

In this regard, they expect from him a bright and dominant performance in the battle with Morozov.

The Kazakhstani, although he is the former M-1 Global bantamweight champion, has lost three times in his career.

One of the defeats he suffered from Movsar Yevloyev, another domestic UFC fighter.