Gadzhi Omargadzhiev of Makhachkala (13 wins, 1 loss) will face the cousin of Khabib Abubakar Nurmagomedov (16 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw). Abubakar is called a very difficult opponent on the street, Khabib described him in his book with the word “something”, and Islam Makhachev said Nurmagomedov had the toughest shots on his team. However, Abubakar hasn’t won a save since 2016 and Omargadzhiev has only lost once, when he missed an illegal shot.
– We’re talking eight hours after the weigh-in and a day before the fight. Is it difficult now not to think about the tournament?
“I’m thinking of the fight, but you saw that we hugged each other in a duel of looks, we shook hands, showed that we had no hostility. It’s purely sporting, it’s just that we were proposed such fight in such tournament, and we didn’t want to refuse so much attention.
– You both live in Makhachkala, but today is probably the first time you shake hands?
– Yes, we had not met before, we did not see each other, we did not train. It was the first time we shook hands.
– How far is the 38th school, where Khabib and Abubakar studied, from your hall in Makhachkala?
— I live in the reduction zone, we have such a place. It takes about 40 minutes to get to their lobby, which is fine for our city.
– What did you say to yourself when you were asked to come to the duel of views?
– I hadn’t planned to get up at all, and he also said, “We won’t get up, we’ll show respect.” I was for, I planned it myself. We decided to do a face to face brotherly.
– Didn’t that discourage you?
– No, everyone wants to make themselves known, to win, tomorrow we will reconnect.
– At the weigh-in was Mairbek Khasiev, who also recently had a “brotherly fight” in the ASA league. He came out and stopped him. You can not do this ?
“I don’t think the organization itself will allow it. We will have to fight, but treat each other as respectfully as possible.
– Which of his fights was the most instructive for you?
– Especially those fights he had in the PFL or WSOF league (2015-2018. – About “”). In the UFC, he lost the first fight, and the second fight was in a standing position, and even then we can say that he did not fight.
– He lost in Moscow with a triangle – do you understand what mistake he made when attacking?
He relaxed and made a mistake. I translated it, I thought I was in control, and this moment with a triangle turned out.
– I was told that Abubakar had one of the heaviest shots in Khabib’s team. Have you heard of this?
“He’s big on their team, so the punches will be harder than the lightweights. I think in MMA everyone’s punches cause damage, because I also fought in middleweight, I’m already used to such punches.
Is Abubakar tall for your weight class?
– I think not. We’re the same size, he doesn’t roll much. I think he, like me, in size.
– Was it such that someone surprised you with dimensions?
– The previous fight took place in the 84 kg category, and there the opponent seemed big to me. And before that there was a big opponent, but in the 77 kg category I will feel comfortable – both in terms of weight and dimensions.
– You said you could be better at grappling than Abubakar. What sport did you start with?
– I started with freestyle wrestling, then I moved on to wushu-sanda, then to MMA. I like grappling, such an interesting sport, so I paid a lot of attention to it when I trained in MMA.
From the beginning, I wanted to compete professionally and I switched to wushu-sanda at the age of 20, because it is a shock discipline that is as close as possible to MMA.
– What was the maximum win in freestyle wrestling?
– There were no great results, but I fought there, in the mountains, in the Shamil region.
– Gamzat Hiramagomedov unexpectedly said that he was a classmate of Abdulrashid Sadulaev …
– I also remember him from children’s tournaments, I remember him well. When I was in 9th grade, he fought in the Dagestan Championship. Granted, he was in a small weight back then, I myself fought at 54kg back then, but I remember him because we were both like that – guys from the villages…
Are these guys different?
– It doesn’t matter, yes, the guys from the city have cooler, more sophisticated stuff, wrestling for example, but we are rural, simple guys.
– You train with Rasul Magomedaliev, and he is a student of Abdulmanap …
— Yes, he is also a pupil of Abdulmanap. It seems that with Khabib they trained together.
– It turns out that your coach could train with your opponent?
– Apparently yes. Rasul is a student of Abdulmanap, but then he himself began to engage in coaching.
– Surely you trained with Mineev and Shara Bullet in his gym?
– With Shara, we did only light training, and we fought with Mineev, yes, you can say that I took something from him in terms of striking technique.
– You have a crown in grappling, tell me? Abubakar is unlikely to be ready in a day.
– Yeah, you saw it when I fought in the Dana White Contender series – it’s a knee brace. A risky technique, because you yourself can lose control and be finished, but I succeed, I do a lot both in training and in fights.
– It is said that these techniques are rarely practiced, because it is easy to hurt an opponent?
– I’m doing it carefully, I can feel it. If I understand that I took it well, then I can’t finish.
– We are talking about 8 hours after the weigh-in, which takes place from 9 am to 11 am. Someone gains weight at night and goes to bed dehydrated. Someone sleeps and still drives in the morning – how was it for you?
I lost weight at night and went to bed. Dehydration and hunger are excruciating, but I did it all at night, stepped on the scale [для самопроверки] and was able to sleep. True, they woke me up: girls came into the next room, made noise, I woke up.
How much do you think you weigh now and how much will you weigh in battle?
– While I drink water and try to snack every hour, I haven’t stepped on the scale yet (9:30 a.m. has passed since the official weigh-in at the time of the conversation), but there, we gonna get along and I’m just gonna step on the scale. I think I will be somewhere around 84-85 kg. Usually in a fight I compete with such a weight.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
