How fighters from Russia took UFC belts: Khabib tortured the “realtor”, Jan pricked the legend, and Makhachev and Ankalaev beat stars

They remembered all five. Magomed Ankalaev became the fifth representative of Russia who managed to win the UFC champion belt. On March 9, the Dagestan defeated by the judicial decision of Alex Pereir and took possession of his weight -weight title. Now our country has two operating UFC champions – in addition to Ankalaev, Perevojes Islam Makhachev also owns a belt. Also, Oleg Taktarov, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Peter Yang had previously reached the main trophy in martial arts.Getty Images

Oleg Taktarov

July 14, 1995The first UFC champion from Russia is considered to be Oleg Taktarov, although he won the belt when the League was minimally like itself in its current form. On July 14, 1995, the Russian heavyweight spent three fights per evening, won in each of them and became the winner of the tournament. It was in this format that the UFC played the titles at that time.Oleg’s personal archive Tactov defeated Dave Beneto with a suffocating reception at the 57th second of the battle with the first match. Further in nine seconds, Oleg dealt with Anthony Masias, also strangling him. And in the final battle of the UFC 6 tournament, Taktarov’s rival was the American thunder David Tank Ebbot, and in a battle with him, the Russian had to give up the full. More than 17 minutes passed from the beginning of the duel, before Oleg found the opportunity to hold a victorious suffocating.youtube.com

Khabib Nurmagomedov

April 7, 2018If Taktarov is the first Russian who, in principle, managed to win the UFC belt, then Khabib Nurmagomedov is the first full -fledged league champion in the era of modern format. That is, the Dagestan took the title at a time when the organization not only managed to come to the current regulations of the fighting, but also a long time ago became the leader of the world industry of MMA. On April 7, 2018, at the UFC 223 tournament, Nurmagomedov was supposed to fight with the former temporary champion and his principled rival Tony Ferguson.Getty Imagesodnako American a few days before the event received an absurd knee injury, and the League had to urgently look for a new opponent to the Russian. At first, they should have become the then owner of a fed-light Max Holloway belt, and he was even made a face-feine with a habib. However, the Gavaian could not perform – the doctors did not allow him to drive the weight to 70 kilograms.Getty Imagesem was discussed by the figure of ex-champion Anthony Pettis, but with him the League failed to agree on the fee. As a result, Nurmagomedov had to fight for the vacant title with Al Yakvinta, who at that moment occupied only the 11th line of the rating of lightweight. Contrary to expectations, the battle lasted all five rounds, and although each of them Nurmagomedov won the dominant style, in general, Yakvinta’s performance left a good impression.Getty images, nevertheless, the victory was predictably given to Habib. At the same time, many criticized Nurmagomedov for that battle, because Yakvinta did not even enter the top 10 of the division. In addition, Al was known for the fact that in his free from performances in the UFC he worked as a realtor and therefore some perceived him as a not quite professional fighter.Getty Images

Peter Jan

July 12, 2020Two and a few years after Nurmagomedov, the UFC champion belt was taken by another representative of Russia – Peter Yang. The rival of a fighter from Siberia was the legendary Brazilian Jose Aldo, who by that time had a chance to visit a two -time owner of the league belt. Jan was on a series of six victories and was considered a favorite, but the battle turned out not so simple.Getty Imagees in the first half of Aldo often strained the Russian by Lowe and repeatedly hit with dangerous blows to the head. However, to the third round, Peter took the initiative to his hands, and in the fifth he designed a finish. Toward the end of the battle, Jan literally beat Aldo, and the Brazilian got the strongest in a decisive episode when the Russian inflicted on the opponent a huge number of heavy striking attacks on Earth.Getty Images

Islam

October 22, 2022The fourth champion of UFC from Russia was Islam Makhachev. On October 22, 2022, at a tournament in Abu Dagi, Dagestan fought with Charles Oliveira from Brazil for a vacant title. The belt was left without the owner five months earlier. The same Oliveira, as a champion, had to defend against Justin Gage, but could not make weight, for which he was deprived of the title. At the same time, Charles confidently defeated the American in that battle and remained the actual leader of the division without a belt.Getty Imagesh, so in a duel against Makhachev Oliveira, was perceived by many as a valid champion that passed the title for a while as a result of a misunderstanding. However, in the battle itself there was a feeling that from the standpoint of power, it was the Russian. Makhachev surprisingly easily dealt with the star oliveira, completing his torment in the middle of the second round by strangling. Over the next two and a half years, Islam defended his belt four times, becoming a CEFC lightweight record holder in this indicator.

Magomed Ankalaev

March 9, 2025The strongest half -western of Russia Magomed Ankalaev, after 11 victories in the UFC, reached the second in his career as a title fight in the league and finally won the title. To do this, the Dagestan was needed to defeat one of the most popular people in the organization of Alex Pereyra by the judicial decision.Getty Images is not the brightest, but still quite interesting and very nervous. Ankalaev failed to take advantage of his advantage in the struggle over the former kickboxer Pereyira, as he perfectly pumped defense from the Takeudauns. But Magomed processed Alex in the rack, which experts from the world of battles probably did not expect.Getty ImageSt most of all, after a few months, Ankalaev and Pereira will spend a revenge, but for now, the Russian half -weswove has a little time to enjoy their special status. By the way, Magomed became the only Russian who managed to not only win the UFC belt, but also take it from the current champion. Before that, our compatriots took only vacant titles.