Islam Makhachev was born on October 27, 1991 in Makhachkala, Dagestan. He is currently the defending champion of Lightweight UFC after defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 in October 2022.
Owning a 12 consecutive win, Islam Makhachev is expected to rematch with Oliveira at UFC 294 on October 21. However, due to the injury Oliveira, Makhachev will rematch with the champion of the Featherweight Alexander Volkanovski champion.
The childhood of Islam Makhachev
Islam Makhachev is the Lak ethnic group, a ethnic minority group of about 200,000 people, living in the Lakskiy and Kulinsky regions of Dagestan. Makhachev was born in Makhachkala, but grew up in a remote Burshi village.
“The children of the mountainous region think I am” younger “than them, because I am an urban child,” Makhachev recounted. “I had to fight with them quite a lot.”
Not only that, the rural life of the mountainous region has forged the Islam Makhachev physically.
“Making copper, building, digging, gathering, raising, all of them are manual labor. We often have to run up the mountain, sometimes up to three times a day. We exercise with rocks.
Like most Dagestan teenagers, Islam Makhachev comes in contact with objects very early. By the age of 15, he started practicing Sambo under the training of Mr. Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, the father of former UFC Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Very quickly, Islam Makhachev showed his ability – he had 4 times of the Russian national championship in this subject. In 2016, Makhachev became the world Sambo champion thanks to the overwhelming victory of 7-0 against boxer Bulgarian Valentin Benishev.
Khabib's core brother
Many people will know that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev are both teachers and students and close friends. Khabib always accompanies Makhachev in every match as you practice – the coach supports the corner of the radio, even in the time Khabib is still playing at UFC.
However, maybe few people know that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev not only help each other at UFC, but they have been accompanying each other for more than 20 years.
According to Khabib, the Islam Makhachev's house is right next to the Nurmagomedov family. Islam is 3 years younger than Khabib, the two of them have the same local high school.
After knowing his senior, Makhachev was curious to see Mr. Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov practiced Sambo for Khabib. He asked to study with, then stick with the martial arts furnace Nurmagomedov from there.
A few years later, Khabib and Abdulmanap also played a big role in the direction for Islam Makhachev shifted from Sambo to MMA competition. With Makhachev, Khabib is not only a senior, but also an ideal example.
“I want to become the next Khabib. I want to be like Khabib. To be honest, I also want to defeat all my opponents like Khabib,” Makhachev said in an interview with BT Sports.
Makhachev started playing MMA since 2010, while still playing Sambo. He owns a series of 11 consecutive winnings in the MMA Russian M1 and other local tournaments, before coming to the US and competes for UFC.
Islam Makhachev's journey at UFC is not always favorable.
Right from the time Makhachev debut for UFC, many people have questioned whether Makhachev was really an excellent boxer, or he was simply a practitioner who had been champions at that time, Khabib Nurmagomedov, inflated. The public proved to be more and more confident when Makhachev lost to Knockout in the match against Brazilian general Adriano Martins at UFC 192.
But in any situation, Khabib Nurmagomedov still confirms that Makhachev will be the next champion of Lightweight. Khabib not only of Makhachev's companion in his hometown Dagestan, but also often practiced with his juniors in Aka, USA. Only in the last 2 matches, Khabib did not appear in the corner of Makhachev's ring, due to family priority.
Islam Makhachev – like, but not a copy of Khabib
Coming from a martial arts furnace, to eat and practice, the fighting style of Islam Makhachev has 80% similar to the Khabib Nurmagomedov is understandable. Both are outstanding gripplers, with the perfect set of sets combining Wrestling, Judo, and Sambo.
However, basically, Makhachev is not a copy identical to Khabib.
The first difference comes from the standing array.
Both Makhachev and Khabib are not prominent fighters, but they do very well when using Striking to “bait”, “force” the opponent to play grappling. In this side, Khabib often uses Jab – Cross, pressed, pressed corner, with the goal of draining the opponent's physical strength, disturbing their battle, paving the way for Takedown's falls.
Makhachev uses Striking more calculated. Instead of constantly pressing, creating pressure like Khabib, Makhachev sometimes only used Jab as a lure, before kicking the open side of the rivals Orthodox. However, this does not mean that Makhachev's punch – he used to defeat Knockdown Charles Oliveira with a rather heavy punch.
Takedown – Grappling's “process” also has a clear difference.
One of the most scary “specialties” in Khabib's matches is single-Leg Takedown. Khabib, with physical strength and speed, can plunge into the shot, hold the opponent to hit the opponent to escape, lock the hand, then find the chance of submission, or more punching Ground-and-Pound rice.
Khabib's strength is so terrible that his opponents often exhausted very quickly. The story of Grappling with Khabib also seemed to be aimed at the opponent, causing them to breathe in no breath, rather than lock them in the position losing by the Submission.
Compared to Khabib, Islam Makhachev more tricks.
An example is when Makhachev was put into a clinch lock, especially when he was squeezed back into the net. If they were others, they would try to turn the opponent to the side, and then the escape area was clinch. But Makhachev is not – he will constantly go on the pillow, aiming at the opponent's abdomen. Then when the opponent also returned the pillow, Makhachev would hook the legs, pushed the opponent to the floor.
On the other hand, unlike Khabib's holding type, Islam Makhachev will use the top of his head, shoulder blades or shoulder clicks, press, hold the body on the opponent, to keep the opponent flat on the floor. In that posture, it is difficult for Makhachev's opponent to have momentum, tilted body, flipping up.
Next, Makhachev can continue to control from above, maintaining the advantage until the opponent frantically, exposed loopholes, then locked them into the submission. The most obvious example for this strategy is the match between Islam Makhachev and Dan Hooker, when Makhachev used the shoulder click to clenched Hooker to the floor, before the end of the match with beautiful spotless Kimura phase.
It is difficult to say between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, who is a more terrifying champion of the Lightweight UFC class. Anyway, Makhachev has only protected the belt once, and UFC 294 here is the second prevention of his belt against Alexander Volkanovski. Surely a few quality matches will need to see how Islam Makhachev dominates the lightweight.