UFC Signs Russian Combat Sambo Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov

Hopefully, that’s where AMA Fight Club can help him. I’m not keen on the signing by the UFC as there are a number of other Eastern bloc fighters worth a look, but he’s definitely earned the chance.

I did.

He deserves a step up in competition… going straight to the UFC from where he was might be too big of a step in this instance.

His strength of record is horrid, but if you study his movement, his base, his positional grappling (standing on on the mat), you can see real promise. I personally hate when people boil a fighter down to who he has or hasn’t fought, as though their abilities are directly tied to the best they have faced when they have torn that opposition asunder. You don’t typically do this and I’m a little surprised you see so little upside in his film, because I think he’s a talented kid and was pleased with the signing. He’s not as ready as some of your top 10s, but the UFC needs to sign guys like this, in addition to those you regard more highly.

Why exactly did you believe I was truly boiling him down to who he has or hasn’t fought? I think you know me better than that. Those were just the overall topical points. We can get into a deep discussion about his technical merits from his fights if you like, but I don’t normally get into that because it takes a lot of time to get those points across.

I would reckon there’s a good many high level UFC fighters that you did not consider major talent when they were acquired. Sometimes they see, hear and evaluate off-tape things that you and I may not. Despite that, I like what I see when I watch this kid, and I think AMA can turn him into a quality talent.

I don’t know if we can say this yet. We’ve only had one year under our belts, and I can’t recall someone we completely missed yet. I’m sure there is someone I’m forgetting though.

Alex Gustafsson comes to mind as a guy I loved that many people told me couldn’t cut it in the wrestler-deep waters of the UFC 205 class. Now dude looks like a title contender in the making. There’s more to these guys than their basest skills, particularly when those skills are world class (Sambo) and they’re putting themselves into a great camp. I’m fuckin geeked to see a little-known Russian prospect get a stab, and what that could mean for future signings.

Gustafsson is a good example, but we can’t predict that he’s going to partner up with Phil Davis and improve considerably. We try to remain objective in the moment. As you’ll see with the 2012 report, we will go back and do massive updates on the 2011 report, thus allowing us an avenue to say “We were wrong”.

I think the major takeaway from all of this is… Russia is finally being tapped, although I’m more excited to see if Dagestan or Bulgaria will get some benefit out of this as there are some exciting guys there as well.

Yes. That will kill him.