Khabib Nurmagomedov put Dagestan MMA on the map, becoming one of the greatest lightweights in the sport's history. Islam Makhachev is on the verge of earning his own UFC lightweight title shot.
Soon enough, there could be another stalwart Dagestani fighter earning an opportunity at gold in the bigger weight divisions.
Magomed Ankalaev defeated former title challenger Thiago Santos via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47) on Saturday night in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. It was the biggest victory of Ankalaev's career and puts him in the conversation for a future top contender bout at light heavyweight.
Coming in, ESPN had Ankalaev ranked No. 8 and Santos No. 9 in the world at 205 pounds. Ankalaev is on an eight-fight winning streak, tied for the second longest in UFC light heavyweight history, behind only longtime champion and all-time great Jon Jones (13),
"I feel that I deserve a title fight," Ankalaev said in his postfight interview through an interpreter. "But of course it will depend on the UFC who my next opponent will be."
Ankalaev stood up and engaged Santos in a kickboxing match for most of the bout Saturday, which was a dangerous proposition. Santos is one of the most feared knockout artists in the division. But Ankalaev was able to keep him off rhythm by taking good angles and landing solid counterstrikes.
Santos dropped Ankalaev with a looping left hook at the end of the second round, which was probably the most damaging blow of the bout. Ankalaev, though, recovered in the third round and kept Santos at bay with his boxing, including a nice straight left out of the southpaw stance and a counter right hook. Santos had success in the middle rounds with his leg kicks, opening up a cut and beginning swelling on Ankalaev's right leg.
In the fourth round, Ankalaev finally went for a takedown late and grounded Santos in a round that he was winning up until that point on the feet. The fifth mostly featured Ankalaev using the clinch to keep Santos pressed up against the cage.
"I was expecting him to be more aggressive and grapple more," Ankalaev said. "But he didn't. He was very careful."
Ankalaev (17-1) has just one loss in his career, to Paul Craig in his UFC debut in March 2018. That loss came via submission in the last second of the final round after Ankalaev was winning the bout basically the whole way. Ankalaev, 29, has stopped four of his opponents during his current victory streak.
Santos (22-10) was coming off a unanimous decision win over Johnny Walker last October. The Brazil native, who trains out of Florida, was on a three-fight losing streak before beating Walker and has now dropped four of five. Santos, 38, is a former UFC light heavyweight title challenger, going to a split decision in a loss to Jones at UFC 239 in July 2019. "Marreta" is tied for the most knockouts in UFC middleweight history with Anderson Silva and Uriah Hall (8).
"I wanted to go fight five rounds and test myself," Ankalaev said. "To see if I could go all the way to the top."