Nemkov’s transition to heavyweight, Shtyrkov’s fight with Vagabov and Volkanovski’s sixth defense: the main events of February in MMA

UFC Fight Night 235

Date and location

: February 3, Las Vegas (USA)

Significant fights

: Roman Dolidze - Nasrudin Imavov,

Muslim Salikhov

- Randy Brown,

Aliaskhab Khizriev

- Makhmud Muradov.

February will open with not the most representative UFC tournament, in the main fight of which two athletes who had an extremely unsuccessful past year will meet. Roman Dolidze lost to Marvin Vettori in March and never entered the cage again, and Nasrudin Imavov first failed to cope with Sean Strickland, and then also could not complete the duel with Chris Curtis due to a clash of heads. It was declared invalid.

In recent years, Muslim Salikhov’s career has also stalled. Since July 2022, he has lost two out of three fights and has never been able to break into the top 15 of the welterweight category, and a victory over Randy Brown could be the first step towards rehabilitation. But it will clearly not be easy for the 39-year-old King of Kung Fu. After all, over the past seven years, the Jamaican has been beaten only by extremely serious opponents - Belal Muhammad, Niko Price, Vicente Luque and Jack Della Maddalena.

In turn, Aliaskhab Khizriev will try to hold his second fight in the UFC. He signed a contract with the league back in 2020, but since then he only fought with Denis Tyululin, and fights with his participation were canceled as many as five times. Twice his injuries were to blame, his opponents let him down just as many times, and once again the coronavirus intervened. We can only hope that the same fate will not befall him in February, because Makhmud Muradov, although famous for his uncompromising nature in the cage, does not get there very often. In two years, he has two battles and three refusals to appear in the Octagon.

ACA 170

Date and place

: February 9, Moscow (Russia)

Significant fights

: Azam Gaforov - Alan Gomez (flyweight Grand Prix), Evgeny Goncharov (c) - Anton Vyazigin (heavyweight Grand Prix), Shamil Abdulaev - Abdul-Rakhman Dzhanaev (middleweight Grand Prix).

At the beginning of the month, three more fights will take place in the capital as part of the ACA Grand Prix. And two of them could have been in the belt at once if Kurban Gadzhiev had not withdrawn from the duel with Azam Gaforov. Now the athlete from Tajikistan will compete with Alan Gomez, while only heavyweight Evgeniy Goncharov will defend his trophy. In December 2020, they already met with Anton Vyazigin at the RCC show, and then the two-time ACA champion confidently gained the upper hand.

The confrontation within the championship in the up to 83.9 kg division promises to be extremely interesting, because the rivals have quite a lot in common. So, out of the last five fights they lost only one, and to the title holders. If Shamil Abdulaev was beaten by Salam Abdurakhmanov, then Abdul-Rakhman Dzhanaev was beaten by Magomedrasul Gasanov, who replaced him on the throne. And if the second one turns out to be stronger, he may get a chance to get even with his offender in the Grand Prix final.

UFC Fight Night 236

Date and location

: February 10, Las Vegas (USA)

Significant fights

: Jack Hermansson - Joe Pifer,

Albert Duraev

- Robert Brycek.

The main fight of the next UFC show will probably be of particular interest only to the most sophisticated MMA fans from Russia. Still, Jack Hermansson has long since dropped out of the top ranks of his division, and Joe Pifer is only gaining momentum, so he has not yet managed to gain a large fan base. The same cannot be said about Albert Duraev, who was once considered one of the country's main hopes in the middle category. He came to the promotion with the status of one of the strongest domestic fighters, but was unable to confirm his status.

Now Machete has only two victories in four fights, as a result of which he is forced to weed out debutants rather than fight for the right to participate in the race for the trophy. As for Roman Brycek, you can’t call him a whipping boy. Yes, by the age of 33, the Pole had suffered five defeats, but recently he has gotten into good shape and knocked out five opponents in a row. And if Duraev again forgets about his wrestling skills and decides to fight in the standing position, he may well have problems.

UFC 298

Date and location

: February 17, Anaheim (USA)

Significant fights

: Alexander Volkanovski (c) - Ilia Topuria (featherweight title), Robert Whittaker - Paulo Costa, Merab Dvalishvili - Henry Cejudo,

Roman Kopylov

- Anthony Hernandez.

Former counterpart Duraev’s career, on the contrary, is going uphill. Two and a half years ago, Roman Kopylov was on a streak of two failures, and now he has four early victories in a row on his record and is already fighting for a place in the ranking. After all, this is exactly what will happen to him if he succeeds in the confrontation with Anthony Hernandez, who is in 14th position. The same one who could fight with the Russian in June 2022. Initially, Chris Curtis was supposed to be the American’s opponent, but he was injured, and then he himself “broke.” However, seven months later, history practically repeated itself. This time, Ikram Aliskerov “flew” from the tournament, and the former Fight Night Global champion again rushed to come in as a substitute.

Also, the show in Anaheim will be remembered for a couple of extremely interesting fights. Merab Dvalishvili will try to deal with former two-division belt holder Henry Cejudo and become the first contender for the 61.2 kg title, and Robert Whittaker will try to regain lost ground and achieve a rematch with the newly-crowned middleweight king Dricus Du Plessis. But the next fight with the participation of Alexander Volkanovski is of much greater interest. Two defeats in a row from Islam Makhachev closed his path to the throne of the lightweight category, but in his own he still remains the indisputable leader. And he will try to confirm this in the battle with Ilia Topuria, simultaneously spoiling his perfect record (14-0). And demonstrate whether Georgians are ready for such tests. Still, before that, he defeated only two representatives of the top 10 - Bryce Mitchell and Josh Emmett. And this seems insufficient to meet the legendary Australian.

AMC Fight Nights 123

Date and place

: February 23, Moscow (Russia)

Significant fights

: Magomed Sulumov (c) - Alexander Sarnavsky (lightweight title), Anzor Chakaev - Tumen Ondar (vacant featherweight title).

AMC Fight Nights will host the first tournament of the year in February. And he will start with two fights for the belt at once. In one of them, Anzor Chakaev will try to extend his unbeaten streak to seven fights and get the better of the strong Tumen Ondar. But the other one looks much more interesting, where Magomed Sulumov and Alexander Sarnavsky will compete for the trophy, whose conflict with Alexander Shlemenko only the lazy do not talk about. For a long time they were teammates, but they separated, after which Storm openly criticized his colleague. According to him, he wished him failure and worked against him in the hall.

As for Sarnavsky himself, he will fight in AMC Fight Nights for the first time since 2016. Then he had two fights in two months and even “strangled” the future champion Dmitry Bikrev, after which he went first to the Abu-Dhabi Warriors, and then to the ACA. And now he can safely be called one of the most experienced fighters in the country. So, the upcoming duel will be the 49th in his career.

LFA 177

Date and location

: February 23, Niagara Falls (USA)

Significant fights

: 

Shamidkhan Mamedov

- Devin Smith (interim welterweight title).

A day later, Russia can gain a third champion in the LFA. Last year, Azamat Bekoev won the middleweight title, after which Natalya Kuzyutina took the interim featherweight belt. Now former Eagle FC fighter Shamidkhan Mamedov will make his attempt. He's currently on a four-game winning streak, but Devin Smith shouldn't be underestimated. He is capable of surprising both in the stand and on the ground. Consider his gorgeous turntable in the previous duel with Jonathan Piersma.

RCC 18

Date and location

: February 24, Tyumen (Russia)

Significant fights

: Ivan Shtyrkov - Vagab Vagabov.

At the end of February, the first tournament of the year will be hosted by RCC. And although only one of the fights is known so far, this is already enough to attract a solid audience. After all, promotion legend Ivan Shtyrkov and AMC Fight Nights champion Vagab Vagabov will compete. Moreover, they will fight not according to the rules of MMA, but of kickboxing. And for both of them this is no longer new. The first recently tried himself in this form and lasted three rounds with Vladimir Mineev himself, and the second performed in it in his youth. And largely thanks to this, he became such a brilliant drummer.

PFL

vs.

Bellator:

Champs

Date and location

: February 24, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)

Significant fights

: 

Vadim Nemkov

- Bruno Cappelozza.

On the same day, PFL and Bellator, whose future continues to remain vague, will also emerge from hibernation. It is still unknown whether both promotions will function or whether Scott Coker’s brainchild will soon cease to exist. In the meantime, they are preparing for a joint show, in which champions and other prominent representatives of both leagues will compete. True, two-time Professional Fighters League playoff winner Magomed Magomedkerimov will not be among them. The Russian was supposed to fight Jason Jackson, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.

In his absence, the attention of Russian fans will be focused on Vadim Nemkov, who is returning to heavyweight after an eight-year break. Then he performed at the New Year's show RIZIN FF, where he lost to Jiri Prochazka in the semi-finals. And now his opponent will be Bruno Cappelozza, a Brazilian athlete known not only for his victory in the 2021 PFL Grand Prix, but also for violating anti-doping rules. In May last year, he tested positive for drostanolone and was suspended for nine months, which is why his fight with Matthaus Scheffel was declared invalid.

ACA 171

Date and place

: February 25, Krasnodar (Russia)

Significant fights

: Magomedrasul Gasanov (c) - Ibragim Magomedov (Middleweight Grand Prix), Islam Omarov (c) - Alexey Polpudnikov (Featherweight Grand Prix).

And the month will close with the second ACA show, which will be decorated with two championship confrontations at once. Moreover, in both cases, not only the belt will be at stake, but also a ticket to the Grand Prix final. And although the contenders boast impressive records and achievements, the title holders look like the favorites.

First of all, this applies to Magomedrasul Gasanov, whom Islam Makhachev himself called one of the best fighters in the world. And there are reasons for this. The native of Dagestan has not conceded throughout 14 fights and has already managed to clear out the ACA middle division, and among the tops he has not crossed paths except with Magomedov and the above-mentioned Abdulaev. And if he passes them, he will not only receive a substantial cash prize at the end of the Grand Prix, but will also eliminate all possible competitors.

Islam Omarov, who has a perfect record of 19-0, is also moving towards this goal. But if Hasanov managed to defend the belt three times, then his compatriot will try to do it for the first time. And the test promises to be difficult. In terms of experience, Alexey Polpudnikov surpasses him, and even won the last five battles, four of them ahead of schedule. True, I haven’t met any tops lately. Therefore, there is no confidence in his readiness to deal with the young leader of the category.