Where you are from and who you are surrounded by has a huge influence on your life. Especially if you are UFC bantamweight prospect Muin Gafurov. The combat sambo champion joined the Dana White-led promotion in 2023 and looks to be one of the most electrifying prospects in the entire division.

Gafurov is known for his wild, always-exciting fighting style which combines his excellent world-class wrestling base with some of the wildest striking seen in a UFC Octagon. As the bantamweight looks to make a name for himself in the UFC, let us look at his early life and his journey to becoming a martial artist.

Where is Muin Gafurov from?

Muin Gafurov, as his moniker, ‘Tajik’ suggests, is from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan. Growing up, the bantamweight had dreams of becoming a soccer player, which is the most popular sport in the country. However, fate (and his family) had different plans as we will see more in-depth later.

The former ONE Championship fighter was born and raised in Tajikistan’s capital and largest city, Dushanbe, where he had access to the best sporting facilities in the entire country. Gafurov was met with tragedy almost as soon as he was born, as his father was murdered shortly after his first cry.

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But thankfully, his mother was there to pick up the slack, and made sure her son stayed on the straight and narrow path. In addition, the Tajik had pretty solid male role models to look up to with four of his uncles being involved in his life growing up. In fact, it was his uncles who brought him to martial arts.

About Muin Gafurov’s early life

Muin Gafurov knew he wanted to be a footballer when he was a child. However, the only problem with that plan was that his family had a long and illustrious tradition of martial arts, combat sambo to be precise. One of his uncles, in fact, was the national President of Tajikistan’s combat sambo federation and was insistent that Gafurov train in it.

“I was thinking of going pro [in football], but my uncles interfered, and I was made to take combat sambo,” Gafurov recalled in an interview with ONE Championship. But the Dushanbe native was initially very resistant to the idea of giving up soccer for combat sports. But his uncles persisted.

“They wanted me to follow in their footsteps – all males in our family were involved in martial arts. When I turned 14, my uncles started taking me to the gym with them. I used to run away at first, and secretly play football,” he added.

In the end, Gafurov gave in and started to actually enjoy the sport, going on to become a world champion in the Russian grappling martial art, not once but twice. He went on to make his MMA debut at the age of 18 in 2013, and hasn’t looked back since. Now the Tajik is set to face Rinya Nakamura on the UFC 311 undercard, where you can expect the same fireworks and all-or-nothing style of fighting Gafurov has become famous for. What do you think about Muin Gafurov’s road to becoming an MMA fighter?