Latest news with #Sadykhov
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
UFC Baku: Nazim Sadykhov on what it means to have 'banger' fight at home vs. Nikolas Motta
UFC Baku: Nazim Sadykhov on what it means to have 'banger' fight at home vs. Nikolas Motta Nazim Sadykhov is excited to put on a show for his home country of Azerbaijan. Sadykhov (10-1-1 MMA, 3-0-1 UFC) takes on Nikolas Motta (15-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in a lightweight bout on June 21 at UFC on ABC 8 from Baku Crystal Hall in Baku. It's a long trip for Sadykhov from Las Vegas, but he wasn't about to pass up the chance to partake in the UFC's debut show in Azerbaijan, and have his loved ones in attendance. "We're going back to the motherland," Sadykhov told MMA Junkie and other reporters during a scrum. "This is where the history of my family started, so we're going back to the motherland. It's just so important for myself, my family, my people. It wouldn't matter if it was on another planet: I would travel. I would make this fight happen regardless." Sadykhov will take on a furious striker in Motta. The Brazilian is perhaps not the type of opponent who will propel Sadykhov up the rankings, but it's a matchup he expected. "It's a banger," Sadykhov said. "I have much more tools than him, but it's a banger. He's tough. He's training in Thailand now. He was here in Vegas, but he's training in Thailand now. I'm sure I'm going to be fighting the sharpest version of Nikolas Motta, and that's who we're preparing for. He was the CFFC champion. "I literally fought on the same card as him. We've been seeing each other at the (UFC Performance Institute) and stuff, but it was kind of like, 'Hi ... bye,' just because we probably both understood that eventually we might get matched up – and it came sooner than myself or him maybe expected. But anyways, it's going to be a good fight."
USA Today
16-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Nazim Sadykhov happily accepts full credit for UFC Fight Night 251 doctor stoppage: 'I caused damage'
LAS VEGAS – Yes, a doctor stopped Nazim Sadykhov's fight vs. Ismael Bonfim at UFC Fight Night 251 on Saturday. Why? Because of damage. And who caused damage? 'I don't want to hear that there was a language barrier,' Sadykhov told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference at the UFC Apex. 'I don't want to hear that. I caused damage. I kicked him hard.' By the scoring criteria of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, damage is the goal. Sadykhov (10-1-1 MMA, 3-0-1 UFC) caused that when he drilled Bonfim (20-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) with a slick question mark kick in Round 1. It wasn't damage caused by a poke or another sort of foul. It wasn't even a cut that stopped the fight. It was straight-up damage from a strike – a strike that Sadykhov revealed he specifically had put emphasis on during fight camp. 'Those head kicks we were setting those up all camp,' Sadykhov said. 'I don't know if they caught it backstage in the cameras, but we were setting that head kick up in the back. We were working that head kick in the back. That head kick was coming all night, more from me in the boxing department, in the wrestling department. It was coming all night. 'I don't know what the language barrier or what it was, but I looked at that man before the start of Round 2 and he did not look like he wanted to be there.' Sadykhov, 30, has found consistency in results despite a lack of consistency in frequency of competition. Saturday's bout was his first since November 2023. But over the past year, Sadykhov has learned a lot as he's developed a regiment of a time-split between Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas and his original home gym of Longo and Weidman MMA (LAW MMA) on Long Island in New York. Sadykhov thinks the recipe will continue to be a working one. 'I got a place out in Vegas. I'm collabing now with Ray Longo and John Wood. It's a killer camp I have now. I'm ready for more. I definitely want to get back in there – hopefully April, if something opens up, (I can fight again). I only have a sore calf, sore ankle. I'll be back in the gym relatively soon getting ready for the next one.'
