Khabib Nurmagomedov used to wrestle bears as a kid. His father, the former Russian army combat sambo coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov started training his son in the grappling martial art as soon as he could walk. Nurmagomedov has been an outspoken advocate of combat sambo, popular in Russia and former Soviet countries, which combines grappling and striking, as a base for mixed martial arts.

And based upon the success he and his protege and friend Islam Makhachev, considered among the best grapplers in UFC history, it is hard to argue its effectiveness. And Roman Kopylov, another promising Russian middleweight prospect with a background in combat sambo is making waves, and notably, has an even more decorated combat sambo career than ‘Khabib’!

Roman Kopylov’s unique fighting style

Roman Kopylov comes from a sporting family, with both his parents being former athletes, who encouraged their children’s passion for martial arts. The Russian started training in combat sambo at the tender age of none, and found a lot of success in the sport.

He crossed over to MMA in 2016 and put together an undefeated 8-fight record before joining the UFC in 2019. Although he comes from a grappling background, the Russian is almost entirely dependent on his stand-up and elite-level striking, with 11 of his 12 victories being KO/TKO’s for a 92% knockout rate.

A Southpaw, the 32-year-old has an odd and unique fighting style, preferring to stay inside his opponents’ lead foot and catch them with stiff jabs and straights when they try to close the distance. Quick on his feet, the Russian has a keen understanding of distance and is, at times, scarily accurate with all of his limbs, holding knockout power in both his hands and legs.

This makes him a daunting task for any opponent and the middleweight has won the last four of his UFC fights by knockouts. Although the 32-year-old had a rocky start to his UFC career, losing his first two fights in the promotion, he has rallied strongly and is currently on a four-fight win streak. While he is still making his way in the UFC, he is a decorated world champion in combat sports already.

Kopylov more decorated than Khabib Nurmagomedov in sambo

Roman Kopylov is a five-time hand-to-hand sambo champion and multiple-time European and Russian champion. This, significantly, is more than the two world championships and one national championship that Khabib Nurmagomedov won in his stint as a sambo competitor. It is worth noting, however, that Nurmagomedov reportedly had only one fight in his 250-fight sambo career.

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And in the sport of mixed martial arts, Kopylov has a very long way to go before he is even mentioned in the same sentence as Nurmagomedov, considered by many the best to ever do it. However, his next fight against the #14 ranked Anthony Hernandez is an opening that could see the yet-unranked Kopylov making rapid strides towards a title shot. If he wins, of course. What are your predictions for UFC 298?

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