Dagestan is a region in the south of Russia on the northwest coast of the Caspian Sea. Known for it’s mountainous, rugged terrain, Dagestan has slowly transformed into a factory for producing tough combat sports champions. Since embracing culture of fighting the area has produced amazing fighters like current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Buvaisar Saitiev, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Mavlet Batirov and many more.

This weekend, among the many Russian fighters competing on the UFC Moscow card will be Dagestan-born Ramazan Emeev. Standing with a record of 18-3, “Goret” will enter the fight on a seven-fight winning streak. In his three-fight UFC run so far he is yet to see a loss. A former M-1 Global middleweight champion, Emeev made his switch to the welterweight division in 2018 and since then has gone 2-0. This weekend he has the opportunity to catapult himself ahead of many when he gets to face Anthony Rocco Martin.

Anthony Rocco Martin might be entering the fight with little momentum on his side, but before losing to Demian Maia in his last fight he was on a four-fight winning streak. He had delivered more or less strong performances and was building his way up to the top. The loss did set him back, but given he had just fought in the main event against a former title challenger, he became a name many began to recognize.

Which is key for Ramazan Emeev. If Emeev defeats Martin this weekend he adds a lot of credibility to his record. As of now Emeev doesn’t really have any standout names on his record. Not for lack of trying; Emeev did have fights booked with Michel Prazeres and Claudio Silva, only to have them fall through. The fight this weekend, however, gives Emeev the opportunity to cover all those misses and rise up as one of the forces in the welterweight division.

UFC Moscow will be live on ESPN+ in the USA, TSN 5 in Canada, and Sony SIX and Sony SIX HD in India on November 9.

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Roman Kopylov was brought up in a small village of only 1,000 people. Down the road, his parents and he moved to an even larger village where 15,000 people live. There, at the age of nine-years-old, Kopylov began training hand-to-hand combat.

Before coming into MMA, Kopylov had an extensive background in hand-to-hand combat where he was kind enough to let me know his accolades in the sport.

“I won three World Championships and was a silver medalist. I won European Championships twice, Russian Championships eight times and several Russian Cups.”

Many fighters, while performing in another form of martial arts for so long and then switch into another one usually the fighter, has problems transitioning over. Kopylov though has found hand-to-hand combat very similar.

“Hand-to-hand combat rules and MMA rule are very much alike. There is a striking technique and wrestling part, but there are time restrictions on how long you can clinch and hold. There are no restrictions on wrestling in MMA. Initially, it was hard, but I quickly adapted. Now I feel calm and confident.”

The big question surrounding Kopylov is his training situation and sparring partners. He clarified everything.

“I train at Bachatskiy. My main sparring partners are Alexey Marchenko and Konstantin Veselkin. Unfortunately, we don’t have many fighters with whom I could spar. That’s why before fights, I travel to Novosibirsk to join Alexander Matmuratov (9-4). We often organize joint training camps. Together we prepare for the fights and go to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Several times we had training camps in the Chechen Republic. I always start training at home and my final stages somewhere where I can wrestle and spar at the highest level possible.”

Kopylov is 8-0 with seven finishes via TKO. With a career full of success thus far, it’s not easy to pick a favorite moment for him.

“Each of my victories has a hard preparation regimen behind it, so every victory is pleasant and hard in its own way. Getting into the cage is the easiest part of the job. You do your job for 15 or 25 minutes and leave. Of course, for me, the victories by knockout are always pleasant. The most important for me are the last two fights for the Fight Night Global titles.”

Kopylov fights at middleweight and that weight class is at 185 pounds. That being said, every fighter has their own methods to get down to that target weight.

“I don’t need to lose a lot of weight. My normal weight is 92 kg (203lbs), so cutting to 84 kg is not an issue. I usually start 10 days before a fight. I don’t cut the weight with water, I do it through a diet. I avoid salt and sugar. Normally, my diet consists of chicken, eggs, protein, buckwheat, fish, vegetables and fruits and I train every day.”

Like most Russian fighters early in their career, Kopylov has stayed put on the Russian circuit in all eight bouts. When Kopylov was asked where he’d wanna fight outside of Russia, his dream location was the same as many foreign fighters all over the world.

“My dream is Las Vegas. I would like to fight in front of a large audience. But first of all, I have to prove that I’m worth it.

The past weekend, Kopylov announced he signed with the UFC and caught many fans off guard with the signing. However, the deal has been in the works for a while.

“Earlier I signed a contract with Team Rati. My manager Aleksandr Skaredin conducted all negotiations with the UFC and kept me informed. Now we are in the UFC and I’m so happy.”

Kopylov is not getting ahead of himself with his UFC aspirations. He understands that it is a long journey to the belt.

“The first goal is a debut. I have to showcase my hard work, to show my work ethic. With God’s blessing, I will win and proceed from there. Of course, like any fighter, I want to fight for the belt.”

Kopylov has hopes of becoming middleweight champion of the UFC and as he knows he still has a lot to prove he still has the map to the possible gold in the future.

“I don’t have a dream to fight with someone specific. I want to challenge the champion when the time comes no matter who it will be. I want to show exciting fights. I would like to be the one to bring the belt to Russia, to Siberia, to my hometown. It will be a real celebration. But it is too early to talk about it. I will do my best to make it happen.”

On April 20, Kopylov will make his promotional debut in St. Petersburg, Russia. His opponent will be tough veteran Krzysztof Jotko. With Alexander Matmuratov and Alexey Marchenko will be in his corner, Kopylov is ready to put on a show with Jotko.

“My next opponent is a good and strong fighter who prefers striking. That’s what I like to do too so our fight promises to be spectacular.”

Lastly, I asked Roman Kopylov why he fights for a living and who he fights for. His answer:

“I fight for my family. Fighting is my job and my life. One day it will be my legacy and my story, but now it is too early to talk about it.”

The post UFC Prospect Roman Kopylov: “Fighting is My Life. One Day it Will Be My Legacy.” appeared first on Cageside Press.

The long March to Moscow is nearly over for the UFC. On Wednesday, the promotion announced that it would host its debut event in Russia in September, at the Olimpiyskiy Arena in Moscow. While no fights have been announced for the card as of yet, it’s the culmination of years of work by the promotion to break into the Russian market, dating back to the Zuffa era. UFC President Dana White has frequently spoken of Russia being a desired destination, but the territory remained a difficult market to get a foothold in.

“Russia is a key part of UFC’s international expansion strategy,” commented David Shaw, Senior Vice President, UFC International and Content in a press release Wednesday. “The demand from our fans to bring a live event to Russia has been overwhelming, and with the vast potential this market holds for us, we knew this was the perfect time to bring UFC FIGHT NIGHT® to Moscow.”

No fights have been announced for the card. Being a Fight Night, however, you can bet that Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor will not be part of the deal. White recently voiced his opinion that a fight of that caliber had to take place in Las Vegas, which serves as the fight capitol of the world.

Tickets for the Moscow event go on general sale Friday, June 1, via Kassir.ru.

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In the early days of MMA, legalization was as difficult a battle as any of the fights inside the cage.  The story is well-known now: MMA was the sport too violent for tv, future Presidential candidate John McCain did interviews calling the sport “human cockfighting” and the list goes on.  Today, the sport in its present form is seemingly everywhere and there is no real new frontier for the sport.  However, that does not mean that there are no new places for the UFC to reach.  As the sport grows, Cageside Press explores the next possible destinations for the Octagon.

It should be noted before examining each city, the matter of holding an event in either market is far more than the UFC simply choosing to go to a particular market.  Economics and competition are also a huge factor in determining how an event makes it’s way to a particular location.

Before discussing the targeted match-up of Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov to headline the first show in Russia, the UFC has another fight they need to overcome: economics.  According to Nurmagomedov, the price of pay-per-view would need to be drastically lowered locally.  In an interview with MMAJunkie:

“If the UFC wants to make money with me, they have to make a pay-per-view for Russian people, because Russian people cannot buy a $60 or $100 pay-per-view.  If they made for Russian people a $10 or $15 pay-per-view, only for Russian people, I think they could get a couple million buys for my fights.  I know almost five or six million people watch my fights live in Russia, but they watch on free TV. If three million people bought (a $15 pay-per-view), it’s going to be big money. They have to make a deal in Russia.”

Outside of the United States and Canada, the UFC does not carry it’s events on pay-per-view due to the events taking place in the early morning in most countries.  In countries like England and Brazil, pay-per-view events are aired live on premium channels such as BT Sport or Combate.  For fights that carry large interest in a market, for example the rematch between Max Holloway and José Aldo for Brazil, individual matches may air on what would be considered “free” or network TV in certain markets.

In Russia, the UFC recently re-negotiated their tv deal and a focal point was to capitalize on the popularity of Nurmagomedov.  According to a report on BloodyElbow.com, the UFC’s sale to WME-IMG led to the organization pursuing more lucrative tv contracts internationally.  After aggressive negotiations, the UFC was able to come to terms and continues to air on Match TV.

If the UFC wishes to be successful in holding live events, the key will be to work well with relations in a market that is not lacking for MMA already.  Locally, Russia has a thriving interest in mixed martial arts and already has several promotions based in the country.  The largest is M-1 Global which is best known for its association with Fedor Emelianenko.  In fact, the reason why Emelianenko never signed with the UFC was due to his prerequisite that his events in the Octagon be branded as a co-promotion with M-1.  Organizations such as Fight Nights Global and Absolute Championship Berkut also carry a large following.  One thing to note is that all organizations follow the Russian MMA Union whose former President is Emelianenko.

Currently, the UFC’s arrival in Russia largely revolves around Khabib Nurmagomedov and a potential fight with Conor McGregor.  The Octagon has never been to the country, but after a super fight with Floyd Mayweather in boxing, being able to lead the way to a new market is one of the few historical benchmarks he can still reach.  In Nurmagomedov, he has the perfect opponent.  “The Eagle” possesses arguably the best ground game in the lighter weight-classes and it is the area where McGregor is believed to be most vulnerable. That said, Nurmagomedov has struggled on the feet and McGregor would undoubtedly be confident of his ability to stop the Russian before he ever ends up on the mat.  Given McGregor’s status as the sports biggest star and the recent hype around Nurmagomedov, a card headlined by the tow is expected a largely successful event worldwide.

The main obstacle is actually getting the two into the Octagon.  Nurmagomedov has an impending fight with Tony Ferguson in April and the winner is expected to fight with McGregor later in the year.  “The Eagle” will need to defeat Ferguson, and it is left to be seen whether the UFC can come to terms with McGregor for less than the $100 million he made to face Floyd Mayweather last year.

Currently, it would appear that the UFC is anticipating putting the super fight together.  It was recently reported by BloodyElbow that the UFC has booked the Olympiyskiy Stadium in Moscow for September 14 & 15.  While that is a preliminary move, it’s obvious that the UFC is expecting a Nurmagomedov victory and to have the time to negotiate with McGregor and allow him enough time to prepare after a year long absence.

This leaves the obvious question, does an event in Russia materialize without McGregor vs Nurmagomedov?  Conventional wisdom would say yes, although it would be much less of a priority than it is now.  The UFC continues to expand it’s reach as it looks to for every foothold possible to reach global mainstream status.  But timing is everything, and if the window passes, then the opportunity to have a breakthrough in Russia may take even longer to arrive.

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