Although the fight was a bit of a dud, Magomed Ankalaev—the latest Dagestani export to steamroll through everyone placed in front of him inside the octagon—beat Alex Perreira at UFC 313 in Las Vegas in a close decision to become UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Sporting a moptop of hair with the archetypal Dagestani beard, Ankalaev’s pressure proved far too much for the heavy hitting Brazilian, and this continuous forward pressure has once again proved that Dagestan doesn’t breed humans, it breeds terminators.
All practicing Muslims are currently celebrating the holy month of Ramadan, and as Dagestan is a Muslim section of Russia, all of its inhabitants are no different. Ankalaev spoke openly about how he still fasted all day despite being in training camp (which sounds even more excruciating if you’re training to dethrone one of the most terrifying men to walk the earth), but in the week leading up to the fight, he admitted that he would be drinking water throughout the day in order not to put his body through any more punishment than was necessary. So, I will repeat the question I asked last week: what the heck do they put in Dagestan’s drinking water?
Despite only having a population of 3.1 million inhabitants, the small republic of Dagestan has produced a heroic number of Olympic, wrestling, and MMA champions. In the capital city of Makhachkala, there are over 50,000 competitive wrestlers. Due to its geographical location in the Caucasus region, Dagestan has historically always been at the threat of war, resulting in a fighting spirit interwoven in the DNA of every single man.
Ankalaev is now the third UFC champion to come from the region, the first being former lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, followed by current lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev. Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov, another Dagestani, is perhaps the only fighter from the region who doesn’t possess the same inhumane level of wrestling as his fellow mountain warriors, something Dana White comically took notice of too.
Ankalaev’s win, however, also means that—despite the Brazilian’s impressive takedown defense, especially against someone from Dagestan—Alex Perreira probably won’t be fighting Jon Jones. Is this bad news? Honestly, not really. Perreira seemed pretty frozen in his fight against Ankalaev, and despite blocking every single one of his notorious, Dagestani takedowns, Jon Jones would presumably ragdoll him across the octagon before submitting him on the ground for an early stoppage.
Perreira will probably get another rematch against Ankalaev, and Jon Jones must now face the only opponent that really makes sense: Tom Aspinall.
