"Elite mind tricks" - Fans react as Alexander Chizov's past training with Ilia Topuria resurfaces amid time in Dagestan with Islam Makhachev

Islam Makhachev last entered the octagon in January as he defeated Renato Moicano via first-round submission at UFC 311 to defend his lightweight title for a record-setting fourth time. He recently shared footage of him training alongside Alexander Chizov, who became the first fighter to take him up on his offer to train '2-3 years in Dagestan'.

Old photos of the younger fighter training alongside Ilia Topuria recently emerged. Championship Rounds shared the pictures to X, captioning the post:

"The guy who went to Dagestan for '2-3 years' to train with Islam Makhachev has also trained with Ilia Topuria before 👀 (h/t @pelunaton ) #UFC #MMA"

Check out the post from Championship Rounds below:

Fans shared their reaction to Chizov training alongside both fighters. One fan claimed that it was elite mind tricks from Topuria's camp:

"elite mind tricks"

Others commented:

"Ilia fkn hired him as a spy"

"Dagis preloading excuses for his loss"

"Merab and ilia camp are so Smart ,they make fake accounts and spy on all social media of their opponent camps and play that game outside of fight really well to gain every advantage mentally and watching training footage of opponents,look innocent speaking English but aren't"

Check out the best fan reactions below:

Fan reactions

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Arman Tsarukyan responds to Justin Gaethje calling for Islam Makhachev clash

Justin Gaethje recently called for the opportunity to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title. The No.3-ranked lightweight took to X following his UFC 313 victory over Rafael Fiziev, stating:

"I won 3 out of my last 4, only losing in an exhibition fight. I have to fight for the belt. @danawhite I am ready."

Arman Tsarukyan chimed in, issuing a challenge to 'The Highlight':

"You barely got past #11 on short notice, and before that, you got sent to the shadow realm. If you really want to be the #1 contender and fight for the belt, you have to go through me first."

Check out Justin Gaethje's post and Arman Tsarukyan's response below:

Tsarukyan had been set to challenge Makhachev at UFC 311. However, he was forced to withdraw one day before the bout due to a back injury suffered while cutting weight. Meanwhile, Gaethje appeared to be in line for a title shot before suffering a last-second fifth-round knockout loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300. It is unclear what will come next for the lightweight champion, as Charles Oliveira and Ilia Topuria are also in the mix.