Magomed Ankalaev’s net worth in 2025

Magomed Ankalaev’s net worth in 2025 is around $1 million. This is according to sources such as essentiallysports.com and sportskeeda.com. Just like the rest of the Dagestani fighters – such as the Nurmagomedov cousins, Islam Makhachev, and Shara Magomedov – that have come to fame in recent years, Ankalaev is pretty reserved, and not a lot is known about his personal life or financial status.

Like those other fighters, Ankalaev is committed to the fight game, and the majority of his wealth has certainly been accumulated during his time in the UFC. So far, Ankalaev has not been one of the higher-paid UFC fighters. From what we could tell, UFC 282 was his biggest payday, as his reported earnings from that event were $782,000. This is a big step up from only making $13,500 in his first UFC fight. Ankalaev has also collected four Performance of the Night bonuses.

While a lot of UFC fighters have sponsorships and endorsements, we couldn’t find anything like that for Ankalaev. The Russian fighter doesn’t speak much English, which doesn’t help his marketability in that regard.

Pre-UFC life

Ankalaev began training in Greco-Roman wrestling when he was at Dagestan State University. He also practiced combat sambo there, and he was honored with the title of Master of Sport in the discipline. After making the move to mixed martial arts, Ankalaev became an amateur Russian and World Champion.

He has spent basically his entire career at 205 pounds (93 kg). His Russian championships include gold in 2014 Khanty-Mansiysk, 2014 Moscow, 2014 Khabarovsk, 2015 Dagestan, 2015 Grozny, 2015 Omsk, and 2017 Orenburg. He was also the combat sambo Light Heavyweight Champion in Dagestan in 2016, as well as a three-time WMMAA World Champion.

Magomed Ankalaev’s UFC career

Anlalaev made his UFC debut against Paul Craig in 2018. He lost the bout after being put in a triangle choke. That would prove to be the only loss of his career, and he currently has a 20-1-1 record.

After the loss, Ankalaev collected wins at a Fight Night in 2018 and three Fight Nights in 2019/2020. The win streak afforded him some more high-profile matchups. Some notable victories included his UFC 267 win over Volkan Oezdemir and the UFC 277 victory against Anthony Smith.

That win set up Ankalaev for a shot at the vacant title at light heavyweight. Originally, Jiri Prochazka was supposed to fight Glover Teixeira, but the Light Heavyweight Champion had to pull out of the fight and vacate the belt. Ankalaev performed good but not great in the title shot, as 23 out of 25 media members crowned him as the new champion. However, the decision ended in controversy as the judges decided it was a draw.

Ankalaev’s road to getting the belt didn’t get easier in his next fight, as his UFC 294 bout against Johnny Walker ended in a no-contest after an illegal knee. Ankalaev proved his talent level in the rematch fight, and then he bested Aleksander Rakic at UFC 308, so he is getting another shot at gold at UFC 313.

The number one contender has an extensive wrestling/takedown background, but he is a much better striker than he is given credit for. He will need to use everything in his bag against a fighter as scary as Pereira. Not much else is known about Ankalaev’s life/wealth, considering his reserved personality and lifestyle, but were you surprised by his net worth?