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Khabib Nurmagomedov praises 22-2 teammate who hasn’t lost in a decade as the best middleweight outside of the UFC

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Aug 16, 2025 12:53 PM ET

Throughout this entire week, the combat sports world has centered around the middleweight division.

UFC 319 is just hours away, where in the main event, Dricus du Plessis will face Khamzat Chimaev with the 185 pound title on the line.

Many believe that the UFC’s middleweight division is the most exciting that it has been in some time, if not ever, with a huge title fight and several viable challengers.

When looking outside of the Octagon, there has been one man who for many years, people believed to be the best in this weight class who wasn’t signed to the UFC.

Johnny Eblen’s undefeated run came to a shocking end in his last outing, before Khabib Nurmagomedov gave this title to a different fighter.

Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images

Magomedrasul Gasanov earns high praise from Khabib Nurmagomedov following his latest title win

Absolute Championship Akhmat, or ACA, returned for an event in Moscow, Russia this past Friday night.

ACA 190 was headlined by a middleweight title defense from the promotion’s dominant champion who was looking to fend off his fifth challenger.

Magomedrasul Gasanov is a 30-year-old Russian fighter with a record of 22-2, having not been beaten since June of 2015.

After suffering back-to-back losses that year, he has won 17 fights in a row, competing mostly in ACA.

In his second fight of 2025, Gasanov took on his fellow Russian, Dmitriy Aryshev, who had not lost since 2019 and was riding a 12-fight winning streak.

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The middleweight champion continued his dominant run by stopping Aryshev in the second round, after raining down ground and pound strikes.

In a post on his Instagram story, Khabib Nurmagomedov praised his teammate with a short statement, referring to Gasanov as the best middleweight in the world outside of the UFC.

Khabib Nurmagomedov calls Magomedrasul Gasanov the “best middleweight fighter in the world outside of the UFC.”

InShaaAllah I can’t wait to see him compete in the UFC one day. He’s a very talented mixed martial artist. https://t.co/mc3jMCWB3I pic.twitter.com/RphZeIodIy
— Omer Osman (@OmerOsman200) August 15, 2025

Magomedrasul Gasanov holds a win over a current UFC middleweight star who was set to compete this month

Magomedrasul Gasanov’s record is certainly impressive, and seeing him compete inside the Octagon one day would be very exciting.

For UFC fans, the one name that is likely to stand out from his current winning streak is the opponent he fought in December of 2019.

Gasanov defeated Azamat Bekoev via a split decision before his opponent would go on to debut inside the Octagon earlier this year.

Crucially for Bekoev, while many of his fights took place in promotions like ACA, he put together a stellar run in LFA, which then made his move to the UFC much more likely to happen.

Since then, the 29-year-old has been one of the breakout stars of the year, recording back-to-back first-round finishes.

He is now being scheduled to return in October after he was initially booked to compete on August 2.

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

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