Brazil’s biggest MMA stars LOST TO DAGESTANI fighters 🇧🇷🇷🇺 Is Dagestan the new MMA capital? 2020’s 🧐

Poatan Ankalaev ❌ Charles Islam ❌ Brazil’s 2 biggest MMA stars this decade came undone against Dagestani fighters. Perhaps a broader indication of the cultural shift in MMA power we’ve seen in recent years. Brazil 🇧🇷 has historically been a hotbed for MMA talent & has conjured up many of the greatest UFC fighters in history (most notably Anderson Silva & Jose Aldo). Charles Oliveira & Alex Pereira have been the 2 biggest Brazilian MMA stars of the 2020s. They have transcended beyond just celebrity fighters into outright celebrities & are very big names across mainland America 🇺🇸 In South America, they are huge names & massive icons in their native homeland. Oliveira went on one of the most historic & action-packed lightweight runs in history. Charles cemented himself as one of the greatest lightweights in MMA history – beating Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier & Justin Gaethje in consecutive fights. Poatan ascended at torpedo like-speed to the summit of UFC, having just debuted in 2021. However both of their auras were brought to an abrupt end by Dagestani fighters. Perhaps a broader indication of the transfer in dominance that was once synonymous with Brazilian fighters, to Dagestan. In the late 2000s, Japan & Brazil used to be MMA factories – churning out tonnes of MMA fighters. Then after the boom of K1, Pride etc… the scene significantly contracted. Over the last decade, Dagestan has emerged as a hotbed for dominant MMA fighters. Similar regions have also enjoyed shared huge success (i.e. Artur Beterbiev from Chechnya & Georgia’s Merab Dvalashvili 🇬🇪). However, Dagestan specifically has become synonymous as a hotbed for dominant MMA talent. Spearheaded by Khabib who famously put Dagestan on the map when he ran through global megastar, Conor McGregor, in 2018. Since then, Islam Makhachev, Zabit, Usman Nurmagomedov etc set MMA alight & pioneered Dagestan’s reputation for wrestling. Perhaps the most famous “cultural shift” clash being when Islam’s Dagestani style of wrestling over-beared Brazilian Jiu Jitsu extraordinaire, Charles Oliveira. So what’s going on? Let’s break things down 🧠

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