Askar Askarov of Russia poses on the scale during the UFC Fight Night weigh-in inside Flash Forum on UFC Fight Island on July 17, 2020 in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Askar Askarov remained undefeated in his MMA career but Khabib Nurmagomedov brought up his Paralympic history
Askar Askarov is one of the many Dagestan stars in the UFC and Khabib Nurmagomedov wanted to remind the fans of a big aspect from his friend’s career.
Askarov was in action at UFC 259 as he took on Joseph Benavidez in a Flyweight clash. This was on the prelim card and Askarov had missed weight. However, the 28-year-old put on quite a performance against a former Flyweight title contender and got the win via a unanimous decision.
This was Askarov’s 13th MMA win and he is yet to taste defeat in his career. He does have a draw which came in his first fight in the UFC.
That was against the excellent Brandon Moreno and there are some great things expected from Askarov.
However, the Dagestani star has another story that not many would know about. Khabib brought this up after the UFC 259 win and reminded fans of Askarov’s disability.
The 28-year-old is a Deaflympics champion and won gold in wrestling for Russia in 2017, and Khabib was quick to praise his countryman.
“@askar_mma is a Paralympic champion and one of the best in all mma #DagestanPower”
While the Deaflympics aren’t the Paralympics, it is incredible as to how Askarov has been doing his bit in the UFC.
The 28-year-old was born deaf and has trouble listening to his coaches during fights. In fact, he can’t hear them but his hearing has improved a bit with reports suggesting he has 20% hearing now.
Still, that is a huge problem heading into fights and well, credit must be given to the Russian for charting such a great career.
Askarov has won medals in other tournaments too and is a former Flyweight champion from ACB. It will be interesting to see who he gets next but a title fight cannot be far away. He is #3 in the UFC rankings but this was before his fight against Benavidez.
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