Saygid Izagakhmaev (Сайгид Изагахмаев), 27, of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia was one of the winners at the ONE Championship event “ONE: Heavy Hitters.” It was his first victory in the Singapore-based martial arts organization.
Izagakhmaev made his ONE Championship debut at “ONE: Heavy Hitters.” He is a protégé of his fellow Dagestani mixed martial artist Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov (Хабиб Нурмагомедов), 33.
When Izagakhmaev signed with ONE Championship in October 2021, he was with Nurmagomedov in Singapore. The latter is an undefeated MMA fighter who competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship from 2012 to 2020.
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Featuring one kickboxing contest, two Muay Thai bouts and five MMA fights, “ONE: Heavy Hitter” was held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Central Region, Singapore on January 14, 2022. In the sixth bout of the evening, Izagakhmaev and James Nakashima, 33, of Dwight, Illinois, United States battle it out in an MMA bout in the lightweight division.
Referee Justin Brown stopped the lightweight contest after 2 minutes and 17 seconds in the second round. Izagakhmaev submitted Nakashima via D’Arce choke.
The victory upgraded Izagakhmaev’s professional MMA record to 20 wins and 2 losses while Nakashima now has 12 wins and 3 losses. The Dagestani MMA fighter was one of the three “ONE: Heavy Hitter” fighters who each won $50,000 cash prizes as bonuses for their outstanding performances.
In the post-fight interview with Mitch Chilson, Izagakhmaev called out Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez, 38, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and Shinya “Tobikan Jūdan” Aoki, 38, of Shizuoka, Japan. Aoki has been competing in ONE Championship since 2012 while Alvarez signed with the promotion in 2018.
“I really believe Saygid can finish Nakashima and I know him very, very well,” Nurmagumedov told ONE Championship days before the “ONE: Heavy Hitter” fight night. According to the former UFC fighter, he and the ONE Championship debutante grew up together for almost 15 years.
“He’s only 27 years old and he keeps learning,” Nurmagomedov said of Saygid. “I truly believe that with ONE Championship, he’s gonna improve a lot. I think this is good for him.”
Nurmagomedov had to watch “ONE: Heavy Hitters” from his hotel room in Singapore and was not able to corner Saygid. The former tested positive for the new coronavirus (COVID-19) prior to the fight night.
“It was a dominant performance and (a) great debut in one of the best promotions in the world, ONE Championship,” Nurmagomedov stated after Izagakhmaev’s first ONE Championship win. “(Izagakhmaev) also (won) a bonus in the first fight. You make me happy, Brother, but it pleases (me) even more that you (are) becoming confident and more powerful every fight. Fight for the title (which) is not far.”
“(It is a) very good start for our team in 2022,” Nurmagomedov continued. “Thank you so much to the promotion for everything.”
Born in Makhachkala, Izagakhmaev made his professional MMA debut in 2013. Before joining ONE Championship, he competed in Fight Nights Global, Gorilla Fighting, UAE Warriors and Eagle Fighting Championship, among others.
Izagakhmaev is 6’1″ tall and like most, if not all, Dagestani MMA fighters, his foundation style is combat sambo. He trains at Academy MMA in Makhachkala.
At a young age, Izagakhmaev started training with Nurmagumedov’s late father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. On July 3, 2020, Abdulmanap passed away in Moscow, Russia.
CONAN Daily 