Everyone knows Shavkat Rakhmonov is the uncrowned pound for pound king of MMA and a proud Kazakh, unfortunately Damir Ismagulov retired and while we have a couple others currently in the UFC like Morozov and Zhalgas Zhumagulov but there's 4 standout Kazakh's all young, impressive and beating on the UFC's door for their contract I'd like to share with you.
1.
Asu Almabaev 17-2 (13 fight win streak), 28 years old training out of Dar Pro Team alongside Shavkat Rakhmonov and American Top Team. Asu is widely considered one of the best Flyweights in the world outside the UFC. Asu is managed by Sayat Abdrakhmanov who is the manager of basically every Kazakh in the UFC, other central Asians and many Russian fighters too (Fiziev, Damir, Shavkat, Petr Yan etc) so I'm hopeful Asu will be signed.
2.
Magomed Kabardiev 9-0, 27 years old fighting out of Akhmat Fight Club in Kazakhstan, Kabardiev also signed with Sayat Abdrakhmanov and is currently trying to get signed to the UFC. Kabardiev is the Naiza Lightweight champion and one of the best Lightweight prospects in the world. He has won a lot of different grappling, Pankration and Sanda tournaments, he's one of those guys who seems very next level talent wise compared to most. An absolutely massive Lightweight at 6ft too.
3.
Azat Maksum 15-0, 27 years old fighting out of DDV Team in Almaty Kazakhstan, when the best Flyweights outside the UFC come to mind after Mighty Mouse and Kyoji Horiguchi it's always Asu and Azat that come to mind. Azat is a big 5'8 flyweight with knockout power and strong wrestling. Currently fighting for the Kazakh promotion Octagon as their champion, Azat has also been knocking on the UFC's door trying to get his conctract. I don't believe he's signed with Sayat but hopefully he will if he finds it difficult to sign to the UFC otherwise, the right managers seem to have huge pull in getting fighters signed. He's been asking for a fight with Muhammad Mokaev,
4.
Bekzat Almakhan 14-1, 25 years old fighting out of DDV Team alongside his teammate Azat, Bekzat is the Bantamweight champion in the Kazakh promotion Octagon. Bekzat also I am unsure if he is signed with Sayat or not but he posts a lot about trying to get signed to the UFC. With the amount of (T)KO finishes he has I'm sure it's just a matter of time, similarly a very heavy handed Kazakh like his teammate with great wrestling, especially his fast level changes into shots and scrambling. His single loss was to one of the more talented Kazakh's when Bekzat was only 22 in a competitive fight where he won the first round vs now 18-2 Sultan Zholdohsbek.
We've got a week left before any UFC, thought I'd do a showcase of coming talent from Central Asia trying to make their way to the UFC similar to how I did with the 4 standout D1 wrestlers coming up on the US regional scene right now a week or two ago. These guys are all exciting and deserve some love and attention, I look forward to revisiting this thread and seeing that all of these men have been signed hopefully this year. Kazakhstan may not have the biggest population but when you consider Dagestan is less than 4 million, perhaps 19+million Kazakhs begins to sound more significant. It is a country that stands out in Boxing, Sambo and Freestyle wrestling on the world stage regularly and all of these fighters I've listed you can catch training with Kazakh Sambo teams, Boxing teams and Wrestling teams, even sometimes going to Kyrgyzstan to train too. Kazakhstan is a country that's begun to embrace MMA in a big way, top flight gyms and regional promotions have been opening up and we are beginning to see some of their best talent rise to the UFC and I think this generation will not disappoint.
