Azerbaijani MMA fighter enters top 10 in CIS

31 January 2020 11:14 (UTC+04:00)

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijani MMA fighter Tofig Musayev (71 kg) entered top 10 ranking players among Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Russia’s Sports and Tourism Portal TurStat presented a ranking of the best MMA fighters in Russia and the CIS, regardless of the weight category for 2019, Azernews reported with a reference to the source.

The ranking is based on an online survey of MMA fans of the best in MMA in Russia and the CIS in 2019.

Note that Musayev became the world lightweight champion at the Rizin Grand Prix 2019 tournament. This victory was the athlete's 18th achievement.

He is the first Azerbaijani athlete in MMA history who has made such progress in the world tournament.

In Baku, the champion was greeted with a standing ovation at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport.

Musayev began his professional career in 2013. He participated in tournaments of such promotions as WFCA, OC, RFF.

The top 10 best mixed martial arts in Russia and the CIS countries in 2019 also included six Russian sportsman, in particular, Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia), Fedor Emelianenko (Russia), Petr Yan (Russia), Albert Tumenov (Russia), Zabit Magomedsharipov (Russia), Magomed Ismailov (Russia), Makhmud Muradov (Uzbekistan), Andrei Arlovski (Belarus), Zhalgas Zhumagulov (Kazakhstan), and Loik Radzhabov (Tajikistan).

The final standing is the following: some 33 percent of the votes were cast for Nurmagomedov as the best MMA fighter in Russia and the CIS, Emelianenko - 14 percent for Fedor Emelianenko, Yan - 12 percent, Tumenov and Magomedsharipov - seven percent, Ismailov and Muradov - five percent, Musayev, Arlovski, Zhumagulov and Radzhabov - three percent each.

As the portal noted, mixed martial arts or MMA are becoming one of the most popular sports in Russia and the CIS with an audience of several tens of millions of people.

The Federation of Grappling and MMA was established by the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Azerbaijan on 1 May 2012. The Azerbaijan Pankration, Grappling and MMA Federation is a member of the International Federations. Currently, around 50 Sports Clubs are the members of the Federation.

The main activity of the Federation is to develop the Pankration, Grappling and MMA sports in Azerbaijan is to organize training camps on three sports, assist in the improvement of skills of young athletes, promote healthy lifestyle among young people, to hold various courses and seminars, round table, meetings, and other cultural and mass events, to freely disseminate information on the objectives and activities, establish print media in the manner prescribed by the legislation and to cooperate with the relevant governmental and municipal authorities of Azerbaijan.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94