Nine years after he last fought a mixed martial arts bout, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov returned to the cage on Friday night.
The 33-year-old shook off that long break like it was nothing. At Combat FC4 in Boston, he stopped Derik De Freitas inside the first round after vicious ground and pound. It’s a result that takes his record to 7-0 (although records suggest he had another fight in 2017, Abdurakhmonov denies it was him) with every win coming by way of a first round stoppage.
A lot has changed in the near decade since Abdurakhmonov stayed away from the fighting ring. Back in 2014 when he had got his sixth win, he was a 23-year-old still in the nascent stages of a career as a freestyle wrestler.
By 2023, Abdurakhmonov has accomplished nearly everything there is as a wrestler. The Uzbek is a two-time Asian Games champion, a two-time world medallist and most importantly for him an Olympic medallist – having won a bronze in the men’s 74kg category at the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’d always wanted to do MMA but I also wanted to finish what I started in wrestling. I had trained from a young age to be a wrestler. From that age, my goal was to be an Olympian and win an Olympic medal. I’ve done that. Now it’s time for me to do MMA as well,” he told Sportstar.
Abdurakhmonov hopes this latest fight will reignite his mixed martial arts prospects – he hopes to make his way eventually to the Ultimate Fighting Championships. It’s not hard to fault his optimism that he could eventually become a top contender considering his impressive wrestling pedigree and the nature of his wins so far.
Career defining fight
Considering how one of the turning points in his sporting career was determined by a sweetly thrown uppercut, it was perhaps inevitable that Bekzod Abdurakhmonov would return to fighting eventually.
Abdurakhmonov, who grew up in Tashkent but who now lives in Boston, Massachusetts, recalls the moment well.
“I was competing in the junior nationals in Uzbekistan and there was this guy from Bukhara who kept on slapping me in our bout. I warned him the first time and the second time I told him I’m gonna punch you if you try that again. When he did it for the third time, I threw an uppercut and knocked him out,” he says.
The incident saw Abdurakhmonov banned from wrestling by the Uzbekistan Federation. With there seeming to be no prospects back home, Abdurakhmonov travelled to the USA where his elder brother was already working as a wrestling coach.
He started wrestling once again first at community college, then at a Division one College where he earned a Sports management degree.
He’d go on to join his elder brother who coaches the wrestling team at Harvard University – he is still listed by Harvard as a volunteer assistant coach. Eventually, he would be allowed to re-enter the Uzbek wrestling program where he has become one of their most accomplished wrestlers ever.
“That fight opened up a lot of doors for me,” he says. “When I see all of my teammates from when I was 18, everyone is done with wrestling now. If I didn’t get into a fight, I might have been done with wrestling too. But I still have a lot left in me.” ‘A lot’ now includes mixed martial arts.
He had of course fought six times in 2013 and 2014. But that was when he was still trying to find a place in the wrestling world.
“I started training in mixed martial arts at that time because there weren’t a lot of opportunities for me in freestyle wrestling. At that time there was no 70kg weight category in international wrestling. I was too small for the 74kg weight category and too big for the 66kg weight division. But at the 2014 World Championships, a 70kg weight class was introduced. So I decided to focus on wrestling again,” he says.
That made sense to him then considering his priority had always been to medal at the Olympics. He nearly achieved that honour at the 2016 Olympics itself. After being pulled into repechage, he teched the reigning Olympic champion and six-time world gold medallist Jordan Burroughs before losing a narrow 7-9 decision to Jibrayil Hasanov in the bronze medal match.
“It stinks to come that close and miss it by so little,” he had said a few years back while competing in India at the Pro Wrestling League.
That loss motivated him to give another four years to wrestling rather than switch up straight away to MMA. Five years after his disappointment he finally achieved his wrestling ambition when he won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in the 74kg category.
“When you win a medal at the World Championships, it’s mostly the people who follow wrestling who know who you are. When you win a medal at the Olympics, everyone knows you. The Olympics exposes you to the world,” he says.
Final shot
With the medal in hand, Abdurakhmonov knew it was time to take a shot at MMA. “I couldn’t delay it. The longer I wait, the harder it is going to get,” he says.
Indeed at 33 years old Abdurakhmonov might not be the youngest guy looking to make a career in MMA.
Bekzod Abdurakhmonov stopped Derik De Freitas inside the first round after vicious ground and pound. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
However, there are several examples of highly accomplished freestyle wrestlers who made a successful late turn to MMA. Sydney Olympic silver medallist and future UFC light heavyweight contender Yoel Romero was 32 years when he made his MMA debut. Indeed, Abdurakhmonov already has some experience in the cage.
The fact that he has won all his fights by first round stoppages or submissions is also something he says will be to his advantage. “I may be 33 but the good thing now is that I am still fresh. No one has yet punched me. In a couple of years I can be a contender at the UFC,” he says.
That self belief also comes from the fact that Abdurakhmonov has matched himself with fighters competing in that promotion.
“I was training with the Nittany Lions Wrestling Club at the University of Pennsylvania. (Current top UFC prospect) Bo Nickal was training along with me. I saw him fight in the Dana White Contender Series where he had two fights then he was on the main card. When I saw him, I felt if he could do it, I certainly could do it as well. There were actually a lot of guys from the UFC who were wrestling there and I would just run through them,” he says.
There’s still some way to go before Abdurakhmonov gets into the UFC. He had tried to fathom their interest a while back but was told he had too long a break since his last fight.
“I had a manager who talked to the UFC a while ago. They said I needed to get some more fights under my belt. But I’m not rushing into things. I just want to get my feet wet with this fight. I think I will fight a couple of more times and then see how things are,” he says.
Balancing two sports
While Abdurakhmonov has his ambitions in MMA, that doesn’t mean he’s quitting wrestling anytime soon. He is looking to compete at the Paris Olympics next year and the Asian Games and then World Championships this year and he insists that wrestling will remain a priority until then this Olympic cycle.
“Right now I know the wrestling calendar for the year. I know I can’t fight in September (for the Asian Games) and November (World Championships). If I fight again, it will have to be before then,” he says.
In the past wrestlers who have tried to forge a career in MMA have been forced to choose one or the other. Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was forced to step away from the Australian freestyle wrestling team competing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games owing to his UFC commitments.
For now, though Abdurakhmonov has got the all clear from his national federation. “People in Uzbekistan are very supportive of me,” he says.
And while looking to perform at an elite level in two different sports might appear to be a hard thing to pull off, Abdurakhmonov is confident he can do it. “I usually train for my wrestling in the morning. But for four days of the week, I will add in my boxing and striking sessions. It’s all about desire. If you want to do it, you will do it. If you are lazy you won’t do it. You just have to sacrifice. I don’t go out and party like the other guys my age but that’s because I’ve got different goals,” he says.
Although he’s hardly been tested in his career so far, Abdurakhmonov isn’t taking his foot off the gas anytime soon. “I’ve never actually been hurt in the cage. But that’s not true when I spar. I feel it’s much harder to train than to actually fight. Because when you get in the cage, the fight could end in two minutes. But when you are preparing, you have to practise for every hour of every week of your training camp,” he says.
And while cage fighting is as hard as it gets, Abdurakhmonov notes at least one advantage. “Wrestling has suddenly become a lot easier now. You at least don’t have anyone trying to punch you in the face,” he says.
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