5 reasons why Saygid Izagakhmaev might be the next big thing in ONE Championship

#2. ONE Championship's lightweight division has a lot of great match-ups for him

ONE Championship's lightweight division right now is rife with stylistic match-ups that could allow Saygid Izagakhmaev to shine.

Aside from his January 14 opponent James Nakashima, who is already a tough test for a debut match, there are a lot of fighters on the roster that's perfect for Izagakhmaev. We're not saying that he'd beat them undoubtedly, but these fighters' styles could allow the Dagestani to showcase his own style a lot.

If he wants to use his wrestling to ragdoll strikers, he can face the likes of Eduard Folayang, Timofey Nastyukhin and Dagi Arslanaliev. If he wants to establish grappling supremacy against known grapplers on the ground, he's got Shinya Aoki, Christian Lee, and the aforementioned Nakashima.

Regardless of who he faces in the circle, Izagakhmaev is facing a murderer's row of fighters who could either give him problems or opportunities to shine. It's up to him how he manages his journey towards the top.

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#1. Izagakhmaev is mentored and coached by Khabib Nurmagomedov

This is perhaps the biggest indicator that Saygid Izagakhmaev's success is imminent in ONE Championship: the guidance of the great Nurmagomedov.

The ONE lightweight exemplifies the same wrestling game as 'The Eagle' and it's interesting to see him translate it inside the Circle. The former UFC lightweight champion, however, says that Izagakhmaev may have some attributes that he himself may not. In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Nurmagomedov said this about Izagakhmaev:

"Saygid’s fighting style is very dangerous because he’s tall and he has a long reach with his legs and arms. He has very good elbow, good clinch and, of course, he’s very good on the ground; ground game and grappling, like all guys from our school."

If this is any indication, we'll see a taller version of Khabib in ONE and that's a frightening sight for the rest of the lightweight division. With the help of fellow Dagestani fighter Islam Makhachev and MMA pioneer Javier Mendez of American Kickboxing Academy, Nurmagomedov's coaching career has been successful thus far.

Come January 14, we'll get to see whether or not his dominance outside the cage continues in ONE Championship through Izagakhmaev.