According to statistics from the Sherdog site, Rakhim Midaev has 12 wins and 1 loss. Midayev himself asks to watch the fight, where he was recognized as the loser, and considers it 13-0. Rakhim is 28 years old and out of 12 of his victories, 8 have come earlier than expected. We talk to him as Sean O’Malley became the UFC champion in his weight class (61.2kg) over the weekend, and Rakhim is one of the few Russian fighters who doesn’t say “wait and see when asked about the fight against the UFC champion.
One more detail – Midayev can become the new Magomed Ismailov, a person who will gain popularity without performing in the United States. It turns out that he is not afraid to be a brilliant Caucasian fighter. Midayev listens to combat rap and says he stopped perceiving the performer Joniboy when he was destroyed by Oksimiron* (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia); finished school with a gold medal and at the same time fights brilliantly. In the last two fights, Midayev beat two close friends of Peter Yan: Denis Lavrenetv and Vyacheslav Svishchev. “Apparently I will have to climb the weights until I get to Ivan Shtyrkov,” says Midaev.
Did you think Sean O’Malley would beat Aljamain Sterling?
“Honestly, I didn’t think so. I thought Sterling would take it easy. The first round went according to Aljamain’s plan. It seemed to me that he wanted to move forward and start sharply in the second – he immediately got into the fight. But wrestling is such a thing that if you fail to transfer your opponent once, you have to keep trying. As Khabib said: “If I fail once, I will make 20-30-40 attempts.”
– Is O’Malley’s shot a montage or does he have such strong reflexes that he saw Sterling open up and hit?
“I don’t know about white, but O’Malley is constantly working on it. He can fight in both positions. This is his crown, his timing is at the highest level – no one doubted that, but he surprised me.
When McGregor worked against a right-hander, he immediately threw his left under his right hand. It’s a classic moment: if an opponent in the opposite position throws a back hand, you miss and respond with the same hand. I went to O’Malley’s page on social networks – he is constantly working on these moments, they are already at the level of reflexes.
– Didn’t it seem to you that Sterling in the end, as the fighters say, “didn’t have enough darling”? That he was afraid to get up after a missed shot?
– It’s hard to talk about “getting up after a miss”. It is impossible to understand what state he was in. But when something goes wrong according to his scenario, it is clear that he is a little weak in character. You can feel it in the way he fights, in his eyes. It was the first missed shot of the entire fight. It seems to me that if everything was different with the character, he could stand on his own. In combat, there are times when you have to come out clean on your teeth. If it’s fine with Sterling, then it’s fine, if not, there’s not enough honey. From the first fight with Jan it was clear what kind of athlete he was. What kind of person he is is a separate conversation.
Do you think many of your friends will be surprised if you show them a picture of O’Malley and tell them he’s the best UFC fighter in your class?
Ten out of ten would be surprised.
“What would they say?”
— Throw a stone in my garden. They would say, “How could you allow this? You train twice a day. How could that happen?” I have a close brother, he always says Sean O’Malley this, Sean O’Malley that. Blame it on me.
– When you saw him, could you believe that such a person would become a UFC champion?
– He does well with drums and timing – it was obvious. But it seemed to me that if he wasn’t improving in physique and wrestling… Now it seems to me that he wasn’t improving. Put him against Umar Nurmagomedov, the fight will go to a gate. Sterling has a good level of wrestling, but character issues. And if a person with character and a fixed fight comes up against O’Malley, who will push him hard, then the fight will be easy.
How would you fight O’Malley?
– I would move, I would work on footwork. Then I would try to fight him. I would understand that it’s a bit more difficult to knock him down, but if he succeeds once, he won’t be able to get back up. O’Malley’s build is such that it will be better to defend than to recover. The first task is to knock him down, then I would understand that it would be difficult for him to get up.
– O’Malley 180 centimeters – tall for your weight. Did you fight with the same tall guys?
– 90% of my fights were with those who are smaller than me in size. But I fought with 180-185 guys who weigh more than O’Malley. Selecting the distance with them is difficult, but if you knock them down, everything is easier than in the rack.
– Who would you call for the fight if you were preparing for O’Malley? We need someone with good reflexes.
– I would go to the Archangel Michael club and work with Ilyas Khamzin. Although, in our republic there are a lot of top guys who have not even participated in professional fights. Before the fight with Svishchev, I fought for a month with a guy who was not a pro, but he has a very good amateur background. Without minimizing the merits of Slava, it was in the fight that he was head and shoulders above Svishchev.
– I thought you were joking and saying, “We got a lot of guys in the Republic… with the same haircut as O’Malley’s.”
“You wouldn’t believe me anyway. Guys with such a hairstyle have nothing to catch in Chechnya. I think, and in other cities of Russia too. I don’t know about Moscow, but in the rest it’s unlikely.
– How do you visualize the victory over O’Malley?
– I would submit it 99% (I brought it to the reception. – “”): north-south, a triangle crossing the arm – I performed this technique twice in my fights. If you knock O’Malley down, take side control, and do a crucifixion, he won’t come out of that position. It would be possible to crucify him and finish him off. There are many options – depending on how you approach the battle. You need to believe in yourself. Sterling attempted a takedown early in the second round and when he failed, I think he broke down.
– We spoke with you a week before the fight with Vyacheslav Svishchev. You won this fight because of the stiff and slimy fight. At the time of the conversation, did you understand that you were going to fight him?
– Before each fight, there are all the variants in my head. I realized that in the position, because of the legs and the length of the levers, I could hold him off. But the most win-win option is to fight it. If you beat him for one round, second or third, he won’t be so good with his condition. And I even wanted to kill him in a standing position, because I understood that the impact force, the cardio and the physique would not be the same as in the first round, but anyway, in order not to take risk, I continued to fight. Although the fight is already plan C, D and so on.
– You did karate. And where did they put such a fight?
– As it happens in Chechnya – there is an elder in the company or cousins. Every time I came, my brothers were waiting for me, and two or three rivals were already ready in the area, with whom I had to go one-on-one. The fight was very easy for me.
Now all the merits of her are Seyfula Dzhabrailov, with whom I train. He goes up my freestyle wrestling, he’s an MSMK and ACA fighter. You adapt if you work for a long time with masters such as Seyfula, Alikhan Suleymanov, Tamerlan Ashakhanov. But as far as I can remember, wrestling was easy for me. I never even practiced certain figures in professional fights. The same hand triangle. During the fight, I caught this technique and thought, “Is this going to pass or not?” Belongs. So such moments are given easily, and if they are elaborate, they are usually on a different level.
“Do you think you can beat O’Malley?”
– 99% yes.
– You are not the most famous fighter in Russia, but you have a brilliant style and a good record. Have you tried to find out if it is possible to sign in the UFC?
— I discovered the UFC. As soon as I arrived in Turkey, I flew to apply for a tourist visa in Bahrain, but was refused. It turns out that he stayed there. Now I will try to get a work visa – whether it works out or not will be seen by the will of the Almighty. If you get a visa, I think there will be no problem signing up for the UFC. The record and the position in the world ranking allow me, I don’t think I have a boring style. In addition to a visa, there is everything to enter the UFC. We will work on this further.
– Were you offered fights in Russia?
– After the fight with Svishchev, we talked about plans with Nikolai Klimenko (executive director of the RCC league. – ). They planned a boxing rematch with Slava. And in MMA, it seems to me, at 61 kg there is no one to fight with. At 66 kg, there are two options: Evgeny Ignatiev and Roman Podrugin. Ignatiev, even before the fight with Lavrentiev, repeatedly did not accept the fight. He has other plans – I’m not saying he refused out of fear. Roman Podrugin accepted the fight. It would be interesting for me. I think October or November.
Live broadcasts of the Mixed Martial Arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
