Shamil Gentovich Abdurakhimov (born September 2, 1981) is a Russian

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

, who is currently fighting in the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

division for the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(UFC). As of December 13, 2022, he is #14 in the UFC heavyweight rankings.

Background

Abdurakhimov was born on September 2, 1981 in Kuyada village,

Gunibsky District Gunibsky District (russian: Гуни́бский райо́н; av, Гъуниб мухъ) is an administrativeLaw #16 and municipalLaw #6 district (raion), one of the forty-one in the Republic of Daghestan, Russia. It is located in the center o ...

, Dagestan in the family of Avar descent. He started training in

Sanshou Sanda (), formerly Sanshou (), also known as Chinese boxing or Chinese kickboxing, is the official Chinese kickboxing full-contact combat sport. Sanda is a fighting system which was originally developed by the Chinese military based upon the s ...

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and

Freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...

in primary school. After his military service he became a Sanshou national champion in Russia.

Mixed martial arts career

Abu Dhabi Fighting Championship

On May 14, 2010 at ADFC: Battle of the Champions, he fought

Jeff Monson Oregon State Beavers Jeffrey William Monson (born January 18, 1971) is an American-Russian mixed martial artist, boxer, and submission grappler who competes primarily in the Heavyweight division. A professional competitor ...

and won via majority decision. Abdurakhimov fought

Sokoudjou Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Nkamhoua (; born April 18, 1984), mostly billed simply as Sokoudjou, is a Cameroonian professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2006, Sokoudjou is the former KSW Light Heavyweight Champion, and h ...

on October 22, 2010 at ADFC: Round 2. He won via TKO (punches) in the third round. In his last fight with the ADFC, Abdurakhimov faced

Marcos Oliveira Marcos Oliveira (born June 21, 1978) is a professional Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts fighter from Brazil. He competes in the heavyweight division of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He received his black belt in judo in 1995. He received his b ...

at ADFC: Round 3. He won via TKO (punches) in the first round. The win also earned him the ADFC heavyweight belt and one million

dirham The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass. Unit of mass The dirham was a un ...

($272,000).

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On January 15, 2015 he signed a contract with the

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. In his debut, Abdurakhimov faced Timothy Johnson on April 4, 2015 at

UFC Fight Night 63 ''UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 63'') was a mixed martial arts event held on April 4, 2015, at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Background The event was the third that the organization hosted at the ...

He lost the fight via TKO in the first round. Abdurakhimov faced Anthony Hamilton on February 21, 2016 at

UFC Fight Night 83 ''UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Cowboy'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 83'') was a mixed martial arts event held on February 21, 2016, at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Background This was the second event that the UFC hos ...

. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Abdurakhimov next faced Walt Harris on October 1, 2016 at

UFC Fight Night 96 ''UFC Fight Night: Lineker vs. Dodson'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 96'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on October 1, 2016, at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. Background The even ...

. He won the fight via split decision. Abdurakhimov faced

Derrick Lewis Derrick James Lewis (born February 7, 1985) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he currently holds the record for most knockouts ...

on December 9, 2016 in the main event at

UFC Fight Night 102 ''UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 102'') was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 9, 2016, at Times Union Center in Albany, New York Background This event wa ...

. After winning the first three rounds, he lost the fight by TKO in the fourth round. Abdurakhimov faced

Chase Sherman Chase Sherman (born November 16, 1989) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former bare-knuckle boxer. A professional MMA competitor since 2014, he has competed for the UFC and Titan FC. Background Born and raised in D'Iberville, ...

on 25 November 2017 at

UFC Fight Night 122 ''UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Gastelum'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 122'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship and held on November 25, 2017, at Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. Background ...

. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. Abdurakhimov faced

Andrei Arlovski Andrei Arlovski (born 4 February 1979) is a Belarusian-American professional mixed martial artist, actor and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and ho ...

on September 15, 2018 at

UFC Fight Night 136 ''UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 136'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on September 15, 2018 at Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Background The ev ...

. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Abdurakhimov faced

Marcin Tybura Marcin Tybura (born November 9, 1985) is a Polish professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2011, Tybura previously fought fo ...

on April 20, 2019 at

UFC Fight Night 149 ''UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Oleinik'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 149'' or '' UFC on ESPN+ 7'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on April 20, 2019 at Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Pete ...

. He won the fight via TKO in the second round. Abdurakhimov faced

Curtis Blaydes Curtis Lionell Blaydes (born February 18, 1991) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight (MMA), Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2014, Blayde ...

on September 7, 2019 at

UFC 242 ''UFC 242: Khabib vs. Poirier '' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on September 7, 2019 at The Arena, Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Background The event mark ...

. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round. Abdurakhimov was scheduled to face

Ciryl Gane Ciryl Jacky Gane (born 12 April 1990) is a French professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. A professi ...

on April 18, 2020 at

UFC 249 ''UFC 249: Ferguson vs. Gaethje'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 9, 2020 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It was originally planned to ...

. However, on March 5, 2020 it was announced that Gane was forced to pull out from the event due to struck by

pneumothorax A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve ...

during one of his trainings. The bout was eventually rescheduled for July 11, 2020 at

UFC 251 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. Subsequently, the pairing was cancelled a second time and scrapped from this event in mid-June as Abdurakhimov was removed from the bout for undisclosed reasons. The pair was rescheduled on September 26, 2020 at

UFC 253 ''UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 27, 2020 at the du Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Background The event was orig ...

. However, the bout was rescheduled again to

UFC Fight Night 180 ''UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 180'', ''UFC on ESPN+ 38'' and ''UFC Fight Island 6'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 18 ...

on October 18, 2020. The bout fell through once again as Abdurakhimov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons on September 28, 2020 and he was replaced by promotional newcomer Ante Delija. Abdurakhimov was scheduled to face

Augusto Sakai Augusto Sakai (born May 19, 1991) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who formerly competed in Bellator MMA and is now competing in the Heavyweight division of the UFC. Mixed martial arts career Early career Sakai made his professional MMA d ...

on May 1, 2021 at

UFC on ESPN 23 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. However, Abdurakhimov was removed from the bout in mid-April due to alleged

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

issues that restricted his travel. Abdurakhimov was scheduled to face

Chris Daukaus Chris Daukaus (; born September 25, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist and former police officer who competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the older brother of former UFC fighter Kyle Daukaus. A ...

at UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw, but the matchup was removed from that card on July 19 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

protocols within Abdurakhimov's camp. The pair remained intact and was scheduled at UFC on ESPN: Hall vs. Strickland on July 31, 2021. However, the bout was postponed for unknown reasons to

UFC 266 ''UFC 266: Volkanovski vs. Ortega'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 25, 2021 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United S ...

. Abdurakhimov lost the fight via technical knockout in round two. Abdurakhimov was scheduled to face

Tom Aspinall Thomas Paul Aspinall (born 11 April 1993) is an English professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of March 21, 2022, he is #6 in the UFC heavyweight rank ...

on March 19, 2022 at

UFC Fight Night 204 ''UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Aspinall'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 204'' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 62'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 19, 2022 at The O2 Arena in Lo ...

. However, Aspinall was pulled from the bout and he was replaced by

Sergei Pavlovich Sergei Vladimirovich Pavlovich (born 13 May 1992) is a Russian professional mixed martial artist. He was the former Fight Nights Global heavyweight champion and currently competes in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship ...

. He lost the fight via technical knockout in round one. Abdurakhimov was scheduled to face Jailton Almeida on September 10, 2022 at

UFC 279 ''UFC 279: Diaz vs. Ferguson'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 10, 2022, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States. ...

. However, Abdurakhimov was forced to withdraw due to visa issues. The pair was rescheduled for

UFC 280 ''UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 22, 2022, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Background A UFC Lightweight Champions ...

on October 22, 2022. With that date also falling through, the pair have been re-booked for a third time at

UFC 283 ''UFC 283: Teixeira vs. Hill'' is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on January 21, 2023, at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Background The event will mark the p ...

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed Martial Arts

*Abu Dhabi Fighting Championship **ADFC World Heavyweight Champion

Sanshou

*Russian Sanshou Federation **Five Time Russian National Champion

Mixed martial arts record

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, TKO (punches) , UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Aspinall , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:03 ,

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Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

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, China , , - , Loss , align=center, 17–4 ,

, TKO (punches) , UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov , , align=center, 4 , align=center, 3:42 ,

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

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Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

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Ingushetia Ingushetia (; russian: Ингуше́тия; inh, ГӀалгӏайче, Ghalghayče), officially the Republic of Ingushetia,; inh, Гӏалгӏай Мохк, Ghalghay Moxk is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. ...

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 14–2 ,

Neil Grove Neil Grove (born 18 January 1971) is a South African-English Heavyweight professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2006, Grove has competed for the UFC, Bellator Cage Rage, UCMMA, and the SFL. Background Originally ...

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Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

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Makhachkala Makhachkala ( rus, Махачкала, , məxətɕkɐˈla, links=yes),; av, Махӏачхъала, Maħaçqala; ce, ХӀинжа-ГӀала, Hinƶa-Ġala; az, Маһачгала, Mahaçqala; nog, Махачкала; lbe, Махачкъала; ...

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 12–1 ,

, TKO (punches) , ADFC: Round 3 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 2:17 ,

, United Arab Emirates , , - , Win , align=center, 11–1 ,

, TKO (punches) , ADFC: Round 2 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 2:17 ,

, United Arab Emirates , , - , Win , align=center, 10–1 ,

, Decision (majority) , ADFC: Battle of the Champions , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United Arab Emirates , , - , Win , align=center, 9–1 , Shamil Abdulmuslimov , TKO (punches) , ProFC: Commonwealth Cup , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:41 ,

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 8–1 , Mikhail Rutskiv , Submission (armbar) , ProFC: Pride & Honour , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:39 ,

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...

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Thiago Santos Thiago Santos de Lima (born January 7, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL), competing in the light heavyweight division. Prior to signing with the PFL, Santos competed for the Ult ...

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Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

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, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Ante Maljkovic , TKO (punches) , ProFC: Russia vs. Europe , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:17 ,

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Gabriel Garcia , TKO (punches) , FightFORCE: Day of Anger , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:57 ,

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Vladimir Kuchenko , Submission (kimura) , FightFORCE: Russia vs. The World , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdurakhimov, Shamil 1981 births Avar people Dagestani mixed martial artists Living people Sportspeople from Makhachkala Russian expatriates in the United States Russian male mixed martial artists Heavyweight mixed martial artists Russian sanshou practitioners Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters Mixed martial artists utilizing sanshou Mixed martial artists utilizing freestyle wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing kickboxing