Saygid Izagakhmaev shares the influence of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev in his career

At ONE 163, Saygid Izagakhmaev picked up the biggest win of his career. With a first-round TKO, the Russian defeated Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki.

Going 3-0 in ONE Championship, Izagakhamev is clearly the No.1 contender for the lightweight world championship. The title is currently held by Christian Lee, who became a double champion at ONE on Prime Video 4, which took place just hours after ONE 163.

Saygid Izagakhmaev may be in new territory but has an incredible amount of experience alongside him. Now a certified title challenger, he couldn’t ask for two better mentors in his career than the current and former UFC lightweight champions, Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, respectively.

In his post-fight interview, Izagakhmaev said what having them in his corner means to him and what he has learnt from the two dominant champions:

“These two guys have helped me a lot in my career. Everything that I do in my life, I first take advice from them. Let’s say when my opinion kind of clashes with theirs, I always follow them because they know what they’re doing. They have a huge background. Until now, whatever I have achieved in my life, this is because of them. Thanks a lot to them. And as I’ve said, I’m going to continue to follow them, and get the title.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Saygid Izagakhmaev apologizes and shows respect to Shinya Aoki

Russian juggernaut Saygid Izagakhmaev made another statement inside the circle at ONE 163. Coming up against an MMA legend, Izagakhmaev wasted no time once the fight had started, finishing the former ONE lightweight champion in just 86 seconds. Izagakhmaev made his intentions clear after landing a powerful right hand that sent ‘Tobikan Judan’ to the floor.

With his finishing instinct, he jumped on his opponent and followed up with ground strikes until the referee was forced to step in and wave off the contest.

Following his big win, the Russian spoke to Mitch Chilson inside the circle and apologized to Aoki for anything he said in the lead-up to the fight that was disrespectful:

“When I said, ‘I kill you Aoki’, it’s only trash talk. Sorry guys, I love you Aoki. I apologized to Shinya. I respect him a lot, he’s a legend, I learned a lot from him. First I thought that I should choke him out to get the bonus, but I was like ‘I’m just gonna finish it.’”

On top of his biggest victory yet, Saygid Izagakhmaev also earned himself a $50,000 bonus from the ONE Championship CEO.