Nassourdine Imavov is originally from Dagestan. Which would be enough for most to determine that he is a pretty good fighter, who knows some grappling. But actually, ‘The Sniper’ had another advantage coming into martial arts- his family. After all, ‘The Sniper’ is the third professional fighter in his family alone, with his father having been a pro boxer in his youth.

In addition, even ‘The Sniper’s older brother is a professional mixed martial artist, even if he isn’t in the UFC. Ahead of the most important fight of Nassourdine’s career, we take a look at his brother’s MMA career.

Nassourdine Imavov’s brother

As we have mentioned, Nassourdine Imavov was born in the remote Russian province of Dagestan. And he spent his childhood there. Like almost all the other Dagestani children, Nassourdine used to wrestle even before he saw the inside of a gym. After all, just like children play baseball or basketball in the streets in America, children in Dagestan wrestle.

As Nassourdine would recall in an interview: “I wasn’t in a sports gym, but I was doing some fighting. We would fight outside… we would wrestle. It’s the culture. Everybody’s doing wrestling”. Including Nassourdine, who undoubtedly did some of that wrestling against his older brother, Daguir.

The elder Imavov is four years older than his UFC middleweight brother and competes at the 155-pound lightweight division- two weight classes down from Nassourdine. And while he may not be as successful as ‘The Sniper’, Daguir is a pretty good fighter. Or at least that is what one infers from his record which is admittedly not exactly against world-class opposition.

Daguir Imamov’s MMA record and stats

Overall, there is a bit of confusion about Daguir’s pro record. While ‘Tapology’ says his pro MMA record is 15-3-2, ESPN MMA has his official record at 1-2-2. But since the Tapology is the gold standard in the sport, let us go with Daguir’s record there. Of Dagiur’s twenty pro MMA fights, the Dagestan-born fighter has won fifteen. Nine of his wins have come via decision, followed by three knockouts. He also has two submission victories, which shows that he also has some of his brother’s excellent grappling skills.

Of the five fights he didn’t win, a remarkable two were draws, while he lost three of them. Daguir currently trains under Fernand Lopez, perhaps the best MMA coach in France, at the ‘MMA Factory’ in Paris. His brother, too, used to train under Lopez until 2023, but a loss to Sean Strickland and a no-contest against Chris Curtis made Nassourdine change his coaching team. Which means that the brothers don’t train together anymore.

It is also worth mentioning that Daguir fights in minor regional promotions in Europe. But with his brother on the cusp of becoming a big star in the UFC, maybe the elder Imavov is also mulling a move to the Dana White-led promotion. What do you think about Nassourdine Imavov’s brother’s MMA career?