By Jorden Curran
The recent Dagestan Amateur MMA Championships was a showcase of suplexes and flyweight knee knockouts on the weekend of February 13. For those who earmarked themselves as the region’s top up-and-comers, the event was a final qualifying round for the Russian national finals set to take place from 27-31 May. Other top standouts such as IMMAF European Open gold medallist, Salamat Isbulaev, qualified for national finals earlier this year, via the Orenburg city championships and other region-based events.
Russia’s amateur MMA network spans the entirety of Russia, from Moscow and St Petersburg to Siberia and the Urals, drawing thousands of athletes competing to advance through their local city, regional and federal championships in order to reach the coveted national finals, which is regularly attended by Russian combat sport icons such as Fedor Emelianenko and Nikolai Valuev.
Team Russia welterweight standout Islam Bagomedov (pictured), who won gold in the senior welterweight division of the 2018 IMMAF World Championships and bronze in 2019, went up in weight to earn the middleweight crown of this year’s Dagestan championships. In addition, former IMMAF junior world silver medallist, Shamil Bakhachaliev, continues to grow and was the star of the championships with a sensational walk-off flying knee KO.
“Dagestan championships as always means the highest competition levels,” Bagomedov commented. “Every weight was full of tough guys. Due to the pandemic, I went through a 1.5 year hiatus from fighting. I could have gone straight to the national championships of Russia, but because of a long lay-off I wanted to warm up a little bit, to test my condition. I tried my hands at middleweight now and it felt quite good. I even felt it might be my weight. This year I still plan to compete at 77 kg, if not debut in professional MMA, then I’ll transition to 84 kg next year.”
Russia’s organised amateur network has ushered the careers of talent such as Zabit Magomedsharipov, UFC champion Petr Yan and Bellator champion Vadim Nemkov, to name a few, and we will undoubtedly come to see several of the newest faces stake their claim within leading promotions in years to come. But first, it’s on to the national championship finals in May and subsequent qualification to the IMMAF World Championships and European Open later this year.
2021 Dagestan championship medallists below:
52,2kg – Strawweight
1st place Omarov Kurban
2nd place Kakaev Khizar
3rd Musaev Ramazan
3rd Batyrov Abdullabey
56,7kg – Flyweight
1st Zubairov Dalgat
2nd Azizov Aziz
3rd Ordashev Shamil
3rd Nutcalkhanov Akhmed
61,2kg – Bantamweight
1st Asadulaev Ainuddin
2nd Magomedov Murad
3rd Ziyavdinov Abdulkhakim
3rd Magomedsaidov Islam
65,8kg – Featherweight
1st Ibragimov Aligadzhi
2nd Bakhachaliev Shamil
3rd Zainukov Kurban
3rd Agashyrinov Artur
70,3kg – Lightweight
1st Abasov Usman
2nd Guseinov Abubakr
3rd Omarov Abdulatip
3rd Mutalimov Magomedsalam
77.1kg – Welterweight
1st Magomedov Magomedrasul
2nd Aliev Abdula
3rd Mamatkhanov Akhmed
3rd Malikov Taimaz
83,9kg – Middleweight
1st Bagomedov Islam
2nd Ibragimov Ruslan
3rd Abdulkhalimov Muslim
3rd Magomedgadzhiev Isa
93kg – Light-Heavyweight
1st Kurbanov Shamil
2nd Surkhaev Arslan
120,2kg – Heavyweight
1st Ibnukhazharov Khalil
2nd Magomedov Idris
3rd Magomaev Magomedrashid
120,2+ kg – Super-Heavyweight
1st Dzhamaldinov Mura
