UFC 313: Magomed Ankalaev vs Magomed Ankalaev

I may have driven myself insane trying to explain what is wrong with Magomed Ankalaev. I hope you're happy.

The first rule of MMA fighter development: no two prospects will follow the same path to success. The second rule: most will never really get there, in the end.

Magomed Ankalaev entered the UFC seven years ago. He was undefeated in eight pro fights, and not all of those were bums. The Dagestani striker had a lot of hype at a time when the UFC was still experiencing its first big influx of Caucasian talent; Khabib Nurmagomedov had just won the lightweight strap a month earlier, and current lightweight champ Islam Makhachev was still in the process of proving that he was more than Khabib’s understudy.

Much like Makhachev, Ankalaev would quickly pick up a humiliating defeat: his first UFC opponent, Paul Craig, came back from certain defeat to submit him in the literal last second of their fight. Just like Makhachev, though, that early mishap remains the sole defeat of Ankalaev’s entire UFC career to date.

But despite the similarities, Magomed Ankalaev is not Islam Makhachev. Where the lightweight champ has spent the bulk of his UFC career improving in every single aspect of fighting, Ankalaev has changed very little. He entered the UFC a patient, somewhat risk-averse striker who could occasionally be tempted to engage his opponents on the ground; nearly a decade later and, with a long-awaited chance to challenge for the belt finally within his reach, he looks… almost exactly the same. If anything he’s grown even more cautious on the feet, and downright fearful of wrestling and grappling.

Yet he hasn’t lost once in eight years. He’s come damn close one more than one occasion, and he certainly hasn’t made the most of his biggest opportunities—but he has not lost. How is it possible that no one in all this time has managed to figure him out? Is it because he’s actually pretty good? Is it because the UFC’s light heavyweight division is actually pretty bad? Would it negate the need for the rest of this piece if I answered both of those questions in the affirmative right now?

Well, better not then. We are writing about Magomed Ankalaev, after all. Best we don’t make things too easy on ourselves.