Author – FdrNphw
Weightclass: Bantamweight
Record: 10-0
Age: 25
Height: 5’9”
Born in: Russia
Training out of: ?
Combined opponents’ record (at the time they fought): 65-28-2
Key wins: Vyacheslav Svischev, Francisco Figueiredo
I first wrote about Dzhamaludin Aliev nearly three years ago on Twitter, and the hype around him was justified. On December 24th, 2022, he was set to fight one of my favorite regional Russian fighters, Slava Svischev, for the Open FC bantamweight title. Aliev won that fight via split decision, with his wrestling proving to be the difference. His explosive style caused him to fade late, but considering it was his first time fighting past six minutes in his pro career, it was a valuable step forward. At that point, the future looked bright—I was convinced he’d be competing in the U.S. soon and making his name known to a wider MMA audience.
Since then, he’s fought only twice. First, he defended his Open FC title in Kyrgyzstan, scoring a third-round TKO. Once again, he ran out of gas—even though his opponent never really pushed the pace, Aliev was controlling the fight. Attempting five jumping knees and wrestling more than usual didn’t help, but he probably shouldn’t have faded that much in the third round. A perfectly timed, beautiful uppercut ultimately saved the day.
In his most recent fight this spring in Turkey, he defeated ex-UFC fighter and brother of a former champion, Francisco Figueiredo. The fight ended in a first-round TKO, thanks to a perfectly timed jumping knee followed by ground-and-pound. Those jumping knees do burn some energy, but when executed correctly, they lead to spectacular finishes. By no means should he stop using them, just maybe be more selective when it’s the right time to do so.
Part of his inactivity can be explained by his attempts to get signed by a US promotion. It was reported that he got signed by PFL last year, but nothing came from it. He tried changing his nationality to UAE (like Chimaev), but it doesn’t seem like it helped. Now he’s fighting this weekend in Serbia again after four years in the Serbian Battle Championship (SBC), run by controversial ex-UFC heavyweight Bojan Mihajlović. Aliev was their featherweight champion last time he fought for them. He was even offered to represent Serbia, but he turned it down cause he didn’t identify with the Serbian culture. On the poster of the event, he has a Turkish flag next to his name.
Here’s my original thread about him that I mentioned. It has some nice details and analysis for the early days of his career. As well as some highlights. Enjoy.