Is Islam Makhachev formally ranked in Judo?

[Kertol]

Does anyone know if he is formally ranked? I would assume he is a black belt. I read that he trained in Judo growing up but couldn’t find much more information.

His judo is super slick and technical. Maybe it’s just a result of his high level Sambo and that’s it?

 

[Bluesbreaker]

If he is, you'll hear from some morons on Sherdog why his judo has no bearing on his success.

 

[Ishaq]

I think in Dagestan there's so much cross training between Judo, Sambo and Freestyle that the lines between them there are mostly blurred.

 

[MitsuyoMaeda]

Well Islam grew up training with Khabib under his father. And in Dagestan, they tend to cross train a lot before specializing. While Khabib has put on Judo clinics and there are photos of him wearing his black belt...so I would imagine the same for Islam holding the same rank.

However, their major titles come from Sambo.

 

[efficientjudo]

There was a video some time ago where Khabib was laughing that people called him a blackbelt in Judo - saying that he wasn't but his father was : www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdML6kpTyQw?t=129

I don't know about Makhachev, but given that hes been with Khabib and Abdulmanap for so long, I'd assume he never formally got a black belt in Judo either - that said, I don't actually know.

They focus is on combat sambo and MMA, so I don't think they ever cared about a Judo grading, or dedicated to it to get a blackbelt - and my experience with Russian Judoka that I've met is that it is much harder to get a blackbelt in Judo there than it is in other places in Europe.

 

[MitsuyoMaeda]

There are more photos of him sporting a judo black belt. But I don’t doubt it if he says he is not a black belt. There is always mention of his father holding Master of Sports title in both Sambo & Judo. That title is specific to the Russian Federation.


And yes, their focus is on Sambo. There is no denying that.

 

[efficientjudo]

There are more photos of him sporting a judo black belt. But I don’t doubt it if he says he is not a black belt.

I know there are a lot of pictures of him wearing a black belt at various Judo clubs - but if he visited your club, its not like you are going to ask him what grade he got to when he stopped doing Judo as a kid, and then be like, ok let me get you a green belt, you'd just give him a blackbelt to wear.

Maybe he was given a black belt since the video? - but I just seems unlikely to me that he would have jumped through the necessary hoops to get it, because it wouldn't add anything to his career and would just be a distraction. Maybe the Russian Judo Federation bestowed him one?

 

[Kertol]

There was a video some time ago where Khabib was laughing that people called him a blackbelt in Judo - saying that he wasn't but his father was : www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdML6kpTyQw?t=129

I don't know about Makhachev, but given that hes been with Khabib and Abdulmanap for so long, I'd assume he never formally got a black belt in Judo either - that said, I don't actually know.

They focus is on combat sambo and MMA, so I don't think they ever cared about a Judo grading, or dedicated to it to get a blackbelt - and my experience with Russian Judoka that I've met is that it is much harder to get a blackbelt in Judo there than it is in other places in Europe.

very interesting. I always thought Khabib was a Judo black belt. Maybe his father just gave him one?

I would assume the same for Islam then.

 

[Grappler111]

His focus is wrestling and mma at AKA with Cormier and many other world class wrestlers.

 

[ArtemV]

I am unsure, although I think Makhachev had more of a background in freestyle. His father had some kind of freestyle school?

 

[Kertol]

@Ackmed

 

[Dece]

I haven't watched a lot of Islams fights but isn't he just like Khabib? Mainly a wrestler that goes for the legs and only uses judo trips and throws when the opponent defends the leg dives. From what I understood Khabib already had around 10 years of wrestling experience before he tried judo. I would assume Islam got a similiar background.

I also think it's interesting to see the big difference between combat sambists when it comes to takedowns. Someone like Fedor with a judo background only used upperbody/judo takedowns. Khabib with a freestyle background does the opposite, always dives for the legs.