He fought against Chimaev with stitches in his arm. A new Russian fighter is coming to the UFC

Aliskerov is 30 years old, in 14 professional fights he lost only once, against Khamzat Chimaev. Dagestan spent most of the fights in the Brave CF league, but in 2022 he fought in Khabib’s promotion and then in Dana White’s contender’s series. Now, having passed those two tests, he is ready for the UFC.

You fight Phil Hawes. What is his most significant victory for you?

– He won against Nassurdin Imavov, he’s our guy, very good. Hawes is a strong opponent for me, everything is there: explosive, fight and strike. Whoever worked with him among the boys, everyone said he was a complete fighter.

– You said you could be considered the first Lezgin in the UFC. For me, the two most famous Lezgins in martial arts are first fighter Daud Sthansky and Khabib’s senior comrade Esed Emiragaev. Are you familiar with them?

– I know Daud on social networks, they wrote to each other before and after the fights, wished each other good luck, health, but did not communicate personally. I myself don’t particularly watch fights, only if the boys I know fight.

And Esed is the head coach of our gym, my mentor. I remember I was sitting on a bench in the village, he drove up and just took me to practice. Like in the movies, he drove up and said, “Come with me to the lobby. It was 12 years ago, I was 18, I only did sambo and judo. And now it’s come to my UFC fight. He’s generally a basic kickboxer, a boxer, but he fights well as well.

– When he called you into the room, did you know him as an athlete or a villager?

– I knew it was my compatriot, an athlete, an adult. He walked, such was a respected type in the village. So he said, “Let’s go fight. We struggled many times, he said, train with us.

Will he be around?

— Yes, there will be Esed, Islam Mammadov and Magomed Magomedkerimov.

“You were on the sambo team with Islam Makhachev?”

– Yes, he competed in the category up to 74 kg, and I up to 91 kg, it was the 2016 Russian Championship.

Did you fight Islam in a jacket?

– Yes. We didn’t have sparring, but we were training with vests.

– Which of the famous MMA fighters has the coolest fight in a jacket?

– Sultan Aliyev was very physically strong in SAMBO, Slava Vasilevsky was also a good wrestler. And they have tactics similar to what they do when playing with jackets.

– You compete in average weight (up to 84 kg), but you said that sometimes you can weigh more than 100 kg. How long did you follow this training?

– We have now had Ramadan, I made 95-96 kg for almost the entire training. In America, he held 93-94. The maximum was 101 kg.

– You fought in the Bahrain Brave league, but left for the UFC. Lost in money?

– Yes, for the first fight in the UFC I will receive a little less: for my last fight in Brave, I received either 24 or 28 thousand dollars. Now I don’t remember exactly how much I had for the last fight according to the conditions: either $12,000 + $12,000 or $14,000 + $14,000 (fees to go to the fight and fees in case of victory. – ” MatchTV”). I had three contracts for three fights there. The last ended and I left.

– You fought with Khamzat Chimaev there, your only defeat. What I noticed is that before the knockout your leg was standing in an unnatural position to fight in a stance. He knocked her out with a low kick?

– No, I didn’t feel anything with my leg, no problems, but then I decided to change the weight class, I went down to welterweight and already before the fight I was so lethargic, I didn’t didn’t look like. It was hard for me in this weight class, I didn’t feel the physical strength, I didn’t feel my punches, my head worked in a completely different way. After that, I realized that I would never drive weights.

– If there is a rematch with Khamzat in the UFC, do you want to do it at 77 kg?

– At 77 kg, I can no longer drive.

– You had a very spectacular outcome, but in the end you lost by KO after a precise uppercut. How does it feel when you accidentally hit a knockout replay in your fight?

– I’m already faithful to that, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, you just have to move on and that’s it, and if you hang on to that, then you will stay there.

– You tried to transfer it with a pick-up, and it defended itself well upon receipt. Does Khamzat have more physical strength or technique?

– I can’t tell you anything about this fight, I usually weighed 92-93 kg on the day of the tournament, and there my weight was 83 kg, because we went down to 77 kg, and I couldn’t even take normally. In addition, just before the fight, 10 days later, I ripped my arm off, I had stitches, they didn’t even have time to remove them.

– Or?

– I’ll tell you, but I don’t want people to think these are excuses, I don’t like making excuses like that, Khamzat is a talented guy, he finishes his rivals. My hand is not there. Usually I trained in a cage in Bahrain, and a piece of wire was sticking out of the cage, and I just cut my hand. 10 days before the fight, I had the last sparring. And I didn’t fight for those 10 days, I didn’t fight my legs, I went out on antibiotics.

– Did you see Khamzat at least once afterwards?

No, we did not meet.

– They discuss his fight with Kamaru Usman, and you and Kamaru trained in Florida. Which do you think has the best chance?

– I think whichever of them matches the fight the best will win, and the odds are about 50/50. Kamaru had a bad fight last fight, but in general he is very cold-blooded. You see, he doesn’t do anything more, he can fight five rounds at the same rate. Here, whoever chooses which plan will win, Khamzat also has all the skills to compete.

– You said there was a video of your sparring with Usman, which is better not to publish. What’s there?

– I translated it, beat it, fought it. He then fought for the belt with Tyron Woodley, I was immediately told not to upload the video of our sparring anywhere. I just got to training camp, and he was already finishing up, maybe he was tired. But you saw what he did to Tyron Woodley afterwards. He just downgraded it.

– UFC champion in your weight category (up to 84 kg) Israel Adesanya. Many fighters tell me that no one has tested it yet with a normal fight. Are you okay with that?

– Look, he’s a champion, he beat everyone. Because the champion will always say so. But I’m interested in seeing him with someone who will fight him non-stop. Here Blachowicz fought with it, translated it normally and kept it. Maybe if someone can translate it and keep it in time then they can fight it out and it will be fine.

How would you fight Adesanya?

– I would try to catch him, go through one leg and hold him. In a standing position, he is sensitive, it would be necessary to shorten the distance, to fight him.

– You’re good at tricks. Adesanya could do?

– You have to use it. Fresh is very difficult to prepare. It’s hard to do in the first round, but if the opponent is a bit tired, then it’s already going well. But in any case, you must first tire him out.

– The last thing – did you meet Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov?

– Many times, many times I was at the training camp under his guidance. The relationship was quite close. He said to me, “Don’t drive the weight.” Even before the knockout loss, he said this. After that, we never saw each other again. And then he said, “Hey, you have to be in the UFC. You’re the champion of Russia, the champion of the world, why don’t you set yourself some big goals?!” He loved sambo wrestlers, if, as he said himself, he saw that the “jacket maker” (the one who competes in jacket, judo or sambo. – “”) treated him very well.

Live broadcasts of mixed martial arts tournaments can be seen on the federal channel, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites. The UFC 288 Algemain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo tournament can be seen on May 7 at 12:55 a.m.