Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images

Fighter who brought Khabib Nurmagomedov to the US reveals the only way to beat wrestlers like Islam Makhachev

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Jan 3, 2026 11:01 PM ET

Some elite wrestlers have continued to dominate the UFC in 2025.

Several big UFC title fights were criticized for being boring this past year due to the wrestling skill gap resulting in a one-sided affair.

The ability to dictate where a fight takes place is so important and not having a way to counter or match this is a big problem for fighters in multiple divisions.

Islam Makhachev may have continued to improve in all areas but it’s still his elite grappling that put him in the fighter of the year conversation.

An MMA veteran who played a significant role in bringing a new style of dominant wrestling to the United States believes there’s only one way to beat it.

Muhammed Lawal says you have to try to out-dog dominant wrestlers like Khamzat Chimaev

Khabib Nurmagomedov signed with the UFC in 2012 and started training at the American Kickboxing Academy the same year.

This move, which quickly saw many of his fellow Russians make the same move, has had a huge impact on the MMA landscape thanks to Muhammed Lawal.

The former Strikeforce champion set Nurmagomedov up with AKA’s head coach Javier Mendez and the rest, as they say, is history.

After Khamzat Chimaev completely dominated Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 to win the middleweight title, Islam Makhachev produced a somewhat similar performance against Jack Della Maddalena to become the welterweight champion.

In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Lawal spoke about those two men in particular when stating that the only way to beat fighters like that is to “go out there and fight they a–.”

‘King Mo’ used the example of how Ross Puritty handed heavyweight great Wladimir Klitschko the first loss of his career in a shocking upset back in 1998.

“He said in order to beat Klitschko, he had to go out there and fight Klitschko as if it was a tough man contest,” Lawal said. “You can’t out-technique those guys, but you can out-dog ’em in some ways.

“Make them fight at a fast pace. You might get cut up, you might get taken down, you might get elbowed, you might get bruised, kicked – but if you get up and keep on fighting, and make them fight at a faster pace than they’re used to handling, you might be able to do something.”

Muhammed Lawal isn’t sure that Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev will end 2026 as champions

Muhammed Lawal wouldn’t predict whether certain UFC champions will keep hold of their belts for the entirety of 2026 when he was asked to do so in his recent interview with MMA Fighting.

The 44-year-old simply kept coming up with questions that were too compelling for him to give a definitive answer.

For example, while he was impressed by Islam Makhachev’s title win, he isn’t sure that the new champion will be able to replicate that level of success against different opponents.

“He looks so dominant against a guy that can’t wrestle. How would he do against Kamaru Usman or Shavkat [Rakhmonov]? Or even Yaroslav [Amosov]?”

In the same vein, Lawal named an opponent that might be able to fight Khamzat Chimaev in the way that he said you need to in order to truly test them.

“Man, you never know. You just never know. It’s easy to say Khamzat but you just never know. Could he beat [Anthony] Fluffy Hernandez? Because Fluffy has the gas tank.”

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: