Magomed Ankalaev

Magomed Ankalaev is a Russian-born professional mixed martial artist fighting in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Ankalaev was born on October 2, 1992, in Derbent, Dagestan and began his MMA career at just 18 years old. He holds a degree in Physical Culture from Dagestan State Technical University and has trained under the tutelage of renowned MMA coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov since 2012.

Ankalaev made his professional MMA debut with Eurasian Fight Nights where he won four out of five fights. He rose to prominence by signing with ACB promotion and winning six consecutive fights — all wins via T/KO or submission — which earned him a contract with UFC in 2018.

In February 2019 Ankalaev made his UFC debut against Paul Craig at UFC Fight Night: Ngannou vs Velasquez where he won the fight via technical knockout to kickstart his undefeated run in the world’s premier MMA organization as well as become one of only two active fighters from Dagestan to compete inside octagon alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov who also trained under Abulmanap Nurmagomedov, Magomed’s long-time coach.

Ankalaev had an impressive first year inside the octagon that included three victories over Marcin Prachnio (TKO), Dalcha Lungiambula (decision) and Klidson De Abreu (TKO). He earned ‘Performance Of The Night’ award for each win respectively which gained him higher ranking among other light heavyweight contenders but then came Covid-19 pandemic that caused most events be cancelled or postponed forcing Magomoed go without fight for almost 11 months before finally getting back into action this January when he incredibly stopped Ion Cutelaba within 15 seconds to secure another Performance Of The Night bonus while simultaneously setting up himself as one of top possible contenders for Jon Jones undisputed title belt sometime later this year if it ever comes down to that point –

– Unfortunately after Jon decided vacate 205lbs title so their fight never happened yet but despite all odds here remains high chance that someday we may get see these legends face off inside octagon regardless if it will be for championship gold or not either way it seems like fans already got something else look forward too – On April 10th 2021 Magomed is set take on Nikita Krylov at UFC 261 where both men will try prove themselves worthy being next contender line .