Science for Makhachev: how Nurmagomedov and other Russians held the first title defenses in top US promotions

The first Russian champion

Throughout history, only nine Russian fighters have risen to the very top of their divisions in high-profile American promotions.

This list could be much longer if it also included the achievements of domestic athletes in the PFL, but it exists in the format of the seasons, and the belts are a nice addition to the $ 1 million prize for winning the Grand Prix itself.

Therefore, it was customary to consider only those leagues where the title is the main award, and its owner is obliged to defend it in battles with the strongest rivals.

For the same reason, Oleg Taktarov, who considers himself the first Russian UFC champion, did not make it into the top eight.

However, at the dawn of its development, such a status was not trite there, as well as division into divisions.

All athletes fought among themselves, and at the end of the evening the winner of the tournament itself was determined.

And only in 1997, in the superfight between Mark Coleman and Dan Severn, the name of the first full-fledged heavyweight leader became known, and ten months later the trophy was played in 93 kilograms.

Thus, it is fair to consider not Oleg Taktarov, but Alexander Volkov, who won the Bellator heavyweight title in 2012, as the first Russian champion in the American leagues.

Then he had a much less eminent roster of fighters, and to become the first contender Drago was enough to get the better of Brett Rogers and Vinicius Queiroz.

Yes, it was not without luck.

At that time, the current belt holder Cole Conrad, at the age of 26, decided to leave MMA and focus on a career as a stockbroker, as a result of which the matchmakers had to organize a fight for the vacant trophy.

Muscovite confidently dealt with Richard Hale and ascended the throne.

And even though Volkov remained on it for almost 12 months, he failed to hold a single title defense.

In the first battle, he suffered a heavy defeat from Vitaly Minakov and lost his rank.

In the second minute of the starting round, the challenger performed a powerful uppercut and knocked the opponent down, and then brought down a hail of blows on him.

Alexander desperately resisted, but could not rise to his feet.

Minakov's only defense

Unlike his compatriot, the newly minted Bellator champion returned to the cage less than five months later.

The most experienced Cheick Kongo was put against Minakov, whose professional career began back in 2001.

From that moment on, the Frenchman managed to light up in the UFC, take over Mirko Cro Cop and even become one of the potential contenders, but losses to Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir seriously damaged his reputation.

Subsequently, he was never able to return to the top, and after a knockout from Roy Nelson, he went to Bellator.

Scott Cocker did not marinate one of the league's most eminent heavyweights for a long time and, after a couple of victories over non-middle peasants, he put it against Vitaly.

The duel turned out to be extremely tense, Minakov was fined for two consecutive hits in the groin of his opponent already in the very debut.

If he lost this segment, he would be two points behind Kongo and would seriously complicate his task.

But Vitaly had an impressive five-minute period and drew it, and then took the next two.

In the second round, the Frenchman again appealed to the referee with a demand to punish the Russian for the illegal strike, but Herb Dean did not react.

As a result, the applicant took only the fourth segment, but in the rest, the superiority of the champion in wrestling and striking technique still affected.

In the second round, he almost knocked out Kongo at all, and in the other three he dominated the "zero" floor and won by a judge's decision (all - 48:46).

This success helped Minakov defend the title and strengthen his status as one of the strongest domestic heavyweights.

A rematch with Volkov was scheduled for September, but first an injury intervened, and then friction arose between the athlete and the promotion.

The fighter's manager, Kamil Gadzhiev, noted that Bellator could not arrange an interesting fight for his client and talked about his possible transition to the UFC, but at the same time arranged for him to perform at Fight Nights Global.

Subsequently, Vitaliy spent three fights there, until in May 2016 he was deprived of the American League belt. 

Duet from Omsk and pupil of Emelianenko

While two Russians fought for the title in the heavy category, their compatriots captured others.

So, two months after Volkov's triumph, the middleweight belt went to Alexander Shlemenko.

In October 2010, he already made an attempt to take him away, but could not cope with the Olympic judoka Hector Lombardre.

However, when the Cuban left the league and went to conquer the UFC, it was Storm who was named a contender for the vacant title.

Maykel Falcao lasted just over seven minutes until he was scored on the ground.

So the Russian not only became the champion, but also punished the Brazilian for disrespect.

At the weigh-in ceremony, he refused to duel views and ignored the presence of an opponent, pretending to be talking on the phone.

Subsequently, Shlemenko had three successful defenses, and the first one turned out to be the most intense.

Previously, they not only met in a cage with Brett Cooper, but also trained together, so they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses thoroughly.

And up to a certain point, this information was better used by an American.

If he lost the first round, then in the second he almost knocked out his opponent.

The right side knocked the Russian off his feet, and in the process of finishing off, he opened a cut under his left eye.

However, Alexander miraculously survived, took two of the three remaining segments and won a strong-willed victory.

Moreover, he did it in his signature bright style, which would later bring him the fame of one of the strongest domestic drummers.

Shlemenko will lose the trophy only in May 2014, but after 15 months, teammate Andrey Koreshkov will take over from him.

Moreover, he will also succeed on the second attempt.

If he concedes to Ben Askren almost without a fight, then Douglas Lima will literally “take apart brick by brick” and interrupt his unbeaten streak of five fights.

The Brazilian drummer was a convenient stylistic contender, but Benson Henderson didn't fall into that category.

The American was famous not only for his wrestling skills, but also for his incredible ingenuity in the cage, which previously helped him take trophies in the WEC and UFC.

However, Koreshkov had an almost perfect battle with Henderson.

The Russian did not let him use his grappling skills and easily blocked passes to the legs, and confidently interrupted in the stance.

What are a few crushing "turntables" in the head, after which the vast majority of fighters would have been in a deaf knockout.

And although Benson held out, victory was out of the question.

Andrei confidently took over, but after seven months he lost the belt in a rematch with Lima.

The next Russian Bellator champion was crowned only three and a half years later.

If Fedor Emelianenko failed to successfully complete the heavyweight Grand Prix and take the belt, then his pupil achieved what he wanted.

In August 2020, Vadim Nemkov not only took revenge on Ryan Bader for his mentor, but also won the title in the category up to 93 kilograms.

As it turned out later, he came seriously and for a long time.

Unlike many, the first defense was not the most intense.

Nemkov was opposed by Phil Davis, whom he had previously met.

And in two and a half years, the American wrestler has clearly not improved.

Vadim, as expected, surpassed him in the standing position, but at the same time he overplayed him on the ground, and it was with his grappling that he earned fame.

For 25 minutes, the Russian did not miss a single takedown, in the third round he knocked down the enemy, and later, although he got tired, he did not miss his.

The judges were favorable to the applicant and gave him two segments, but this did not affect the final result.

The triumph of Nurmagomedov and the fiasco of Yan

The most discussed title fights with the participation of Russians were expectedly held under the auspices of the largest MMA promotion.

Moreover, the first defense of Khabib Nurmagomedov does stand apart, because it is their fight with Conor McGregor that still remains both one of the most discussed and sold in the history of martial arts.

Pay-per-view UFC 229 was purchased by 2.4 million people.

Only the fights of Floyd Mayweather with the same Irishman (4.3 million) and Manny Pacquiao (4.6 million) were in great demand.

The lightweight duel was preceded by an incredible history of confrontation, which included a ton of insults and a scandalous attack on a bus, and it ended with a grand fight in the hall with the participation of the fighters themselves and their seconds.

As a result of the incident, both were disqualified, and if McGregor was forbidden to fight in Nevada for six months, then Nurmagomedov was immediately nine.

In addition, Khabib was obliged to pay $ 500 thousand.

As for the fight itself, it turned out to be quite competitive, especially against the background of the following battles with the participation of the Russian.

Despite the difference in wrestling skills, McGregor put up a good fight against one of the best grapplers in history, and in the third round almost seized the initiative when Nurmagomedov suddenly decided to test his skills in boxing.

But the Irishman was not enough for more.

Sensing danger, the Russian turned on a higher gear and left him no chance.

He literally crushed him on the ground and won by choke.

Much more dramatic was the first defense of the Petr Yan trophy.

Experts and bookmakers assumed that Algemain Sterling would be able to impose a fight on him, but in reality this did not work out.

The Russian not only dominated the standing position, but also dominated the territory of the American.

In less than four rounds, the challenger managed to put the champion on the canvas only once (and even then only for 27 seconds), while he performed seven passes to the legs.

Jan's advantage was colossal, but 31 seconds before the end of the fourth segment, the unimaginable happened.

Either Peter misinterpreted the corner command, or in the heat of the fight he forgot about the rules and delivered a forbidden knee to the head of an opponent who was on the ground.

Sterling was unable to continue the fight, the referee disqualified the Russian, and for the first time in its history the trophy passed to a new owner by disqualification.