Oleg Taktarov says he, not Khabib Nurmagomedov was the first UFC champion from Russia.
Former fighter Taktarov won the sixth UFC tournament all the way back in 1995. The Russian fought three times in one night to emerge from the tournament victorious. Although he technically didn’t win a UFC championship Taktarov continues to view himself as Russia’s first UFC champion. Speaking on a recent Instagram Q&A about current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, he said.
“I can tell you a story. First champion Royce Gracie. Then he won again. The third championship was won by Steve Jennum, because everyone was injured.
“The fourth championship Royce Gracie who strangled Dan Severn. Then Dan Severn won the fifth championship. There were three champions. The sixth championship I won. Where do you see someone else?”
“This is the year 1995,” Taktarov continued. “This is a story – how can you rewrite it? How can you remake it? Let’s say that it was not Royce Gracie who won the first two and fourth championships, but your fighter whom you want to enter.
“If one Wahhabi from the Tsumadinsky district said this, why should all fools repeat this? He himself doesn’t repeat it already, and you repeat everything like monkeys after him.” (Transcribed by Talk Sport)
The “Wahhabi” Taktarov is referring to appears to be Khabib’s father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who has previously pointed out Taktarov wasn’t technically a UFC champion. Taktarov has spoken out to defend his place in MMA history, in an interview with Sports RU, he said.
”To become UFC 6 Champion I had to (take part in) three fights in one evening,”. “Just imagine that you have to win in 1st fight, then second, and save power to stand in the last one. And the weight difference could be incredible between fighters. I might come to the cage at 90kg and the opponent at 120kg.
“Recently, I read some ‘expert’ who said that ‘Oleg Taktarov wasn’t a real UFC Champion. What does the UFC mean? The Ultimate Fighting Championship; the winner of Championship is the champion. Later they started to hold ‘super-fights’ and there would be super-fight champions. The real championships ended in 90s. One fight is just one fight now.”
Who do you see as Russia’s first UFC champion? Oleg Taktarov or Khabib Nurmagomedov?