Magomed Ankalaev is a Dagestani phenom who competes in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. And yes you guessed it right, he comes from the same region as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. Ankalaev however, is not related to the Hall of Famer by any chance but they know each other since both came to UFC and have the same motherland.

‘The Eagle’ can speak English as well as many of his native tongues, and the legend has always expressed the significance of knowing English to all his teammates. Now you must be wondering that since Khabib can speak English and even Russian, can Ankalaev do the same? Let’s find out.

What is Magomed Ankalaev’s primary language?

Magomed Ankalaev was born on June 2, 1992, in Makhachkala, Russia. He studied at Dagestan State University, where he graduated from the sport faculty after training in Greco-Roman wrestling for one year. Since Ankalaev’s formative years have been spent in Russia, it is not surprising that he is well-versed in his native language, Russian. 

Ankalaev is from the Avar ethnic group and can possibly speak Avar as well. He is also learning to speak in English so the potential future champ is en route to becoming multilingual too. He generally speaks in Russian whenever any interview or media work is in his native language but he also is learning English side by side. Interestingly, when it comes to interactions, Khabib and Ankalaev have always said good things about each other so maybe the Hall of Famer might have told him the significance of learning English. 

‘The Eagle’ has previously spoken about learning the international language and he said during an interview that Dagestani fighters need to learn this.  Nurmagomedov said, “If you wanna be a big star, if you wanna be a star like a world star, not only in Russia; you have to learn English.” So in his camp, the athletes not only learn how to fight but also hone their English skills. Ankalaev who does not train with Khabib, posts a lot about his life on Instagram and he uses both English and Russian in the captions while sending a message to his fans. So clearly he is trying his best to accommodate more English in his vocabulary by taking a queue from the legend.

Does Magomed Ankalaev speak English?

There is a video on Facebook where the reporter asked Ankalaev about his English skills. The fighter who is not so outspoken and lets his fists do the talking inside the octagon, answered that he was practicing his skills. The reporter asked, “ Tell us about your English (language) skills, are you studying?” While Dagestani said, “At the moment, I’m on level zero, but I’m taking the course. It’s necessary and important to learn and I’ll study hard.”

This is where Khabib would probably say the same thing he once told Zabit Magomedsharpiov– “this guy (zabeast) needs to improve his English, without English how are you going to promote yourself?” However, for now, Ankalaev takes help from his translator to answer the questions that are in English. His translator reiterates them in Russian and he replies in his native language.

The 6’3” 32-year-old is set to take on Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 308 so if he wins, do you think we might hear some English answers? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.