Arman Tsarukyan calls Dagestan the No.1 MMA training hub and predicts UFC dominance

Arman Tsarukyan recently highlighted Dagestan as the leading training hub for MMA. He mentioned that, if given the opportunity, many fighters from Dagestan could become UFC champions.

For context, Dagestan is a republic in Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. The region has produced several notable MMA fighters, including Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, Magomed Ankalaev, Umar Nurmagomedov, and Usman Nurmagomedov.

During a recent appearance on the Overdogs Podcast with Mike Perry, Tsarukyan shared his thoughts on Dagestan, saying:

"No. 1 place who trains MMA. In Dagestan, like 50% of people trains MMA. And if you let them to fight at UFC, maybe like eight of them [are] gonna be [champions] from Dagestan. Because there's so much good fighters there and they train every day."

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Check out Arman Tsarukyan's comments below (42:12):

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When Arman Tsarukyan dismissed Dagestani fighter Islam Makhachev's perceived "unbeatable" stature

Islam Makhachev has maintained an unbeaten streak in the UFC since 2015. Aside from his loss to Adriano Martins, he has not been defeated by anyone in his professional MMA career.

Last year, during a conversation with Daniel Cormier after his victory over Charles Oliveira, Arman Tsarukyan reflected on Makhachev's perceived "unbeatable" status in the promotion. He said:

"Islam, he's a very good, well-rounded fighter, but I feel like I can beat him. Everybody thinks he's unbeatable, or no one can beat him, and I don't know why people don't believe someone can beat Islam. I don't know. I don't think so. Yeah, he's good, but in the top level, everybody can beat him."

Tsarukyan added:

"This is [a] fight. Maybe, you're not ready for that day, or you got sick, or you don't cut weight very well and that day you feel bad. So, a close fight [like] Islam versus [Alexander] Volkanovski. Islam looked bad. He didn't look good. My opinion, he looked bad because of jet lag. You see, a lot of details can make sense."

Check out Arman Tsarukyan's comments below (via @ChampRDS on X):

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Edited by Nilaav Gogoi