Boxer Left Paralyzed and in Coma After Loss, Receives Hero’s Welcome From UFC Champ Islam Makhachev 12 Years Later

You don’t see many heavyweights as terrifying as Mike Tyson anymore. But for a brief moment, it looked like we had one in Magomed Abdusalamov. He was the kind of fighter who didn’t just win—he demolished his opponents. Eighteen wins, eighteen knockouts—Abdusalamov was a wrecking ball in the ring. Then came that unfortunate night in November 2013, and with it, a step up in competition: a showdown with 28-year-old Cuban Mike Perez for Abdusalamov’s WBC USA Heavyweight title at Madison Square Garden. Sadly, instead of propelling the 32-year-old Abdusalamov to new heights, it became the night that changed everything for him and his family.

The fight was brutal. Magomed Abdusalamov broke his left hand in round one and also broke his nose as the fight went on. And despite suffering a nasty cut under his left eye, the Dagestani knockout artist chose to continue with the bout. The fight saw Abdusalamov taking some heavy shots to the head over the 10 rounds. And when the fight came to an end, the 32-year-old fell short of victory with the judges scoring the fight in the Cuban’s favor. But what he lost that night went far beyond a clean record. And it nearly ended his life!

Soon after the bout, Barry Jordan, the Chief Medical Officer of the New York State Athletic Commission, cleared Abdusalamov of any brain injury. However, hours later, ‘Mago,’ complaining of headaches, decided to take a taxi to Roosevelt Hospital. Here, he was diagnosed with severe swelling of the brain and underwent an emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot. The doctors put him in a medically induced coma in order to reduce the swelling. But shortly after, he suffered a stroke.

During the time, Mago kept going in and out of a coma until a month later, when he regained his consciousness, though he wasn’t the same. Despite being awake, Magomed Abdusalamov could not walk, talk, or even react. He would spend the next few years confined to a hospital bed. In 2017, four years after the fight, following a lawsuit, New York State agreed to pay him $22 million, acknowledging the grave mishandling of his case. The fallout from that night would eventually lead to a major reform—a new law requiring fighters to carry $1 million in brain-injury insurance. Too late for Magomed Abdusalamov, but perhaps a lifeline for those who came after.

Now, nearly 12 years later, confined to a wheelchair after receiving long-term treatment in a New York hospital and living in a Connecticut house provided by a friend, the 44-year-old is finally going home. On May 2nd, he returned to Dagestan—no longer the unbeaten phenom, but still a fighter in every sense of the word. And UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev was at the airport to welcome him back home.

But this wasn’t the first time Islam Makhachev met with Magomed Abdusalamov. The two had a touching moment last year, right after the 27-1 fighter’s dominant win at UFC 302, where he defeated Dustin Poirier. So he, along with Khabib Nurmagomedov, met their compatriot backstage, and the exchange was both heartfelt and heartbreaking.

“It’s my first time seeing you (in person). How are you, brother? Looking good. Did you like the fight?” Islam had asked warmly, smiling as he reached out to hug the visibly struggling Abdusalamov. Noticing the difficulty in Magomed Abdusalamov’s attempt to speak, Islam added with a light-hearted grin, “If I’d had your boxing skills, I would’ve finished him right away!” He further added, “My man, so glad to see you. When are you going back home? We need to meet there and have some khinkal together.”

And now, that long-awaited reunion on home soil has finally happened. And Islam made sure he was right there at the airport to personally welcome Magomed Abdusalamov back to Dagestan. But even as we celebrate his return, one might ask, just how much has his health actually improved?

Magomed Abdusalamov now hears the world

There hasn’t been much official word on Magomed Abdusalamov’s health lately, but if we go by what we saw in 2019, it’s safe to say he’s made meaningful progress. Back then, seated in a wheelchair in the kitchen of their Connecticut home, surrounded by his wife, Bakanay, and three daughters, Abdusalamov spoke softly and slowly to ESPN’s Outside the Lines, switching between English and Russian. “I feel better,” he said, adding, “I think six months from now I’ll be even better.” It was a quiet but powerful declaration from a man many once believed would never speak again.

His wife, Bakanay, never gave up. She was told by doctors that he would likely never see, talk, or even be able to hug his children again. They warned her against bringing him home in 2014, but she insisted. “They thought I was crazy,” she recounted. But a few years later, those same doctors were stunned when they saw him again. They had expected him to be bedridden or worse. And yet, there he was. Whispering, mumbling, struggling, but communicating. Slowly but surely, Magomed was stringing together thoughts, words, and even sentences. His eldest daughter, Shakhrizat, then just 13, said, “He’s a good listener, he picks up on things.”

Fast-forward to 2025, and just by looking at him in the recent footage, you can tell something has changed for the better. The 44-year-old makes eye contact now. There’s a flicker of recognition in his expression. No, he may never return to the ring. But the fighter in Magomed Abdusalamov is still in there. And now that he’s back home, surrounded by the people and the place he loves, we can only hope the healing continues.