Makhmud Muradov

Makhmud Muradov (born 8 February 1990) is a Tajik-born Uzbek professional mixed martial artist, former professional kickboxer and amateur combat sambist fighting out of Bukhara, Uzbekistan and Prague, Czech Republic.

He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight division.

Makhmud Muradov was born on February 8, 1990, in Soviet Tajikistan, to a father who was a Tajik national and a mother who was from Soviet Uzbekistan.

In 1993, he fled as a refugee with his family to his mother's native Uzbekistan due to the ongoing Tajik civil war, and finally, in 2019, he was granted Uzbek citizenship.

He trained boxing in his youth before transitioning to kickboxing and became Junior Uzbek Kickboxing Champion under K-1 rules.

Muradov was forced to drop out of school and start working at the age of 15 to provide for his family after his father got involved in a car accident that left him permanently disabled.

At the age of 17, he began his successful combat sambo career, and because of that, he earned a well-paid job as a security guard in Russian Siberia.

He was seriously stabbed and shot several times while working there.

When his father got released from hospital after four years, his family had to sell their apartment to pay for healthcare bills.

Muradov returned to Uzbekistan, and eventually managed to make enough money from competing in combat sambo to be able to buy the apartment back.

However, by his account, it was hard to get a good job without contacts, so in 2011, then 19 years old Muradov moved to the Czech Republic in search of a better-paying job.

There, he worked various jobs such as construction site worker, cleaner, and waiter.

He started training Muay Thai and MMA in Prague under the tutelage of Petr Kníže, who allowed Muradov to train and sleep in his gym for free and also helped him get a more comfortable job as a bouncer.

Muradov then started his professional MMA career in 2012.

In September 2015 Muradov fought at WAKO K1 European Cup 2015 tournament and lost in the first match against Polish champion Bartosz Dołbień by unanimous decision.

They became friends after they met each other at Prague's Lávka Club in March 2017.

Before entering the UFC, Muradov held a 22–6 MMA record and won multiple regional middleweight championships (XFN, WKN, Caveam, WASO).

In February 2018 Muradov became the world's first mixed martial artist signed by Floyd Mayweather Jr..'s The Money Team.

Muradov made his promotional debut against Alessio Di Chirico on September 28, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 160 as a replacement for injured Peter Sobotta.

He took the fight on 12 days notice.

He won the fight via unanimous decision.

As of September 29, 2019, he was ranked #1 in the Tapology's Eastern European middleweight rankings.

In his second UFC fight, on December 7, 2019, at UFC on ESPN 7, Muradov faced Trevor Smith as a replacement for Alonzo Menifield.

He won via KO in the third round and was awarded a Performance of the Night bonus.

In the official UFC 2019 year-end list of the Ten Best Newcomers, Muradov was ranked #7.

Muradov was scheduled to face Antônio Carlos Júnior on March 14, 2020, at UFC Fight Night 170, as a replacement for Brad Tavares who had to pull out due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

In turn, Carlos Júnior suffered from an unspecified injury and the bout was cancelled from the event.

Muradov was expected to face Karl Roberson on April 18, 2020, at UFC 249.

However, Muradov was forced to pull from the event due to COVID-19 pandemic travel restriction, and Roberson was pulled from the event and was scheduled to meet Marvin Vettori on April 25, 2020.

On October 18, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 180, Muradov was expected to face Krzysztof Jotko.

However, the fight was rescheduled for October 31 at UFC Fight Night 181, but Jotko was pulled from the fight, citing injury, and he was replaced by Kevin Holland.

Muradov was then also pulled from the fight after testing positive for COVID-19 and he was replaced by newcomer Charlie Ontiveros.

Muradov faced Andrew Sanchez on January 24, 2021 at UFC 257, as a replacement for André Muniz.

He won the fight via technical knockout in round three.

This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.

Muradov faced Gerald Meerschaert on August 28, 2021, at UFC on ESPN 30.

He lost the fight via rear-naked choke submission in round two.

Muradov was scheduled to face Misha Cirkunov on February 26, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 202.

However, Muradov pulled out in late January due to a hand injury and he was replaced by Wellington Turman.

Muradov was scheduled to face Abusupiyan Magomedov on September 3, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 209.