The mountainous northern province of Russia (or Republic as is the officially used word in the country), surrounded by the caucasus mountains is known for two things: its striking rugged, mountainous landscapes and its world-class wrestlers, who are far over-represented in the sport of MMA as compared to their population. Dagestani professionals like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev are counted as the best fighters in the UFC.

Meanwhile, one thing that Dagestani fighters are known for is their respectful demeanor, disciplined lifestyle, and avoidance of any controversies. However, despite their best attempts, some of the biggest Dagestani names in the sport have found themselves in controversies over the past decade.

When Islam Makhachev was banned from the UFC; his recent IV usage accusations

Back in 2016, Islam Makhachev, coming off a shocking first-round knockout loss to Adriano Martins at UFC 192, was scheduled to face Drew Dober in April. However, just days before the bout, he tested positive for meldonium, a banned substance in the UFC. In line with the standard protocol for such cases, Makhachev was handed a suspension and his fight against Dober was scrapped.

However, notably, the drug had only been banned three months before Makhachev’s positive tests, and a thorough investigation eventually found that the Dagestani had ingested the substance before it had been banned. “After a thorough review of the case, USADA concluded that the extremely low meldonium concentration in the athlete’s urine sample, combined with the athlete’s explanation of use, was consistent with ingestion prior to the substance being officially prohibited on January 1, 2016,” a statement from USADA said.

While Makhachev, after being cleared by the anti-doping body, would have expected to walk out of this affair with his integrity and reputation intact. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Alas, this controversy has often been used by fighters like Conor McGregor to attack the reigning champ. Except for the drug usage, there was another, albeit less serious controversy that the champ found himself in.

After winning the lightweight title, and truly succeeding Khabib Nurmagomedov, the latter, who was cornering Makhachev for the bout, challenged the then pound-for-pound king, Alexander Volkanovski to fight the new 155-pound champ to see who the best fighter in the promotion was. And the Dana White-led UFC obliged ‘The Eagle’ and his protege.

Thus, Makhachev vs Volkanovski was set for UFC 284 in 2023 on ‘Volk’s home turf in Australia. Full of ups and downs, their first fight lived up to the hype, going the full sanctioned five rounds. Though ‘Volk’ held admirably against Makhachev’s world-class grappling, the lightweight champ was ultimately adjudged the winner via a unanimous decision.

However, all hell broke loose after the bout. Makhachev found himself amid another controversy with his name at risk of being dragged through the mud when fellow UFC lightweight and Volkanovski’s teammate Dan Hooker accused the 155-pound champion of cheating by rehydrating intravenously (which is illegal) before the weigh-ins.

While the Kiwi claimed he had ‘proof’ of this, nothing was ever revealed by him. Because of this, the accusations went nowhere and the controversy eventually died down. The nail on the head for this controversy came with his UFC 294 head-kick victory over the Australian. Now, no one could claim that Makhachev won the first time around due to underhanded tactics, as the one-sided and emphatic way that he won left no room for doubt about who the better fighter was.

Criticism involving Khabib Nurmagomedov’s frequent pull outs from fights

Unlike Makhachev, who, as we have seen, has faced his fair share of controversies during his UFC stint, Khabib Nurmagomedov has been bereft of it, going through his career sans any cheating allegations. But there is one thing the former lightweight champion was criticized for: his history of pulling out of fights. Nurmagomedov pulled out of five fights in his UFC career. Unsurprisingly, three of those were from scheduled bouts against Tony Ferguson, which led to the matchup being termed ‘cursed’.

What were the reasons behind this? The last time Khabib was forced to withdraw from a scheduled bout against ‘El Cucuy’ was at UFC 249 in 2020. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nurmagomedov went to Abu Dhabi, where, due to travel restrictions, he was denied entry into the UAE Emirate. And since he could not enter the country where their fight was scheduled to take place, it was canceled.

Before his final attempt at fighting the American, ‘The Eagle’ was forced to back out of clashing with the former interim champion two other times, once due to a rib injury in 2015, and a second time from their UFC 209 bout as ‘The Eagle’ was forced to seek medical attention, going as far as being hospitalized due to weight-cutting issues.

However, Ferguson is not the only fighter against whom ‘The Eagle’ was forced to pull out multiple times. Lightweight veteran Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone was originally scheduled to face the Dagestani on UFC 178 in 2014 and UFC 187 the next year, but Nurmagomedov’s persistent knee issues led to him withdrawing from both of them.

Joe Rogan USADA concerns for Dagestani fighters

One of the lesser-known but very serious concerns around foreign fighters, especially Dagestani fighters, is the amount of drug testing they go through compared to their American counterparts. In an episode of his JRE MMA Show with Jorge Masvidal last year, Joe Rogan addressed USADA (the UFC’s official anti-doping body until last year) testing of fighters who lived in the USA versus the ones who lived in Dagestan.

Masvidal pointed to Rogan that he had been visited by drug testing officials about twenty times that year. On the other hand, the agency did not test fighters who live overseas quite as rigorously, according to the UFC’s first BMF champ. And this, ‘Gamebred’ felt, was unfair to him and other fighters who live in America, and showed a double standard.

Rogan agreed with the former BMF champion’s assessment and posited that this was even worse in the case of Dagestani fighters since “they’re [drug testing officials] not traveling to the mountains of Dagestan to give people pi** test.” This, of course, raises serious concerns about whether the anti-doping agencies are able to properly test these fighters for banned substances, the likes of which Usman Nurmagomedov was banned for just last year.

Usman Nurmagomedov’s recent ban from Bellator

Usman Nurmagomedov, the younger cousin of Khabib, became the Bellator lightweight champion back in 2022 (the same year Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira to become the UFC lightweight champ), after a unanimous decision victory over Patricky Pitbull at Bellator 288. After successfully defending his title against Benson Henderson the next year, he defended his title for the second time against Brent Primus in October last year.

However, things took a turn for the worse as he tested positive for a banned substance in November 2023. Unlike the Makhachev case, he was found guilty and handed a six-month ban as well as a $50k fine. In addition, since the bout against Primus was the semi-finals of Bellator’s $1 million Grand Prix, he was ruled ineligible to fight in the finals, missing out on a shot at the seven-figure prize. However, the good news for the Dagestani was that he was not stripped of his Bellator title.

What are your thoughts about the controversies surrounding the Dagestani fighters? Drop your views in the comments below.