Bursting onto the ONE Championship scene at just 19, Russian-born Dzhabir Dzhabrailov represents Turkey. He has quickly won over MMA fans with his explosive, aggressive style. Dzhabrailov began his pro career at 18 in Turkey. In under three years, he compiled a 6-0 record and is now closing in on a ONE Championship title fight.
Living in Russia, he started grappling early on in life, which is the base of his style. You can see he leaned on the wrestling quite heavily through his first couple of fights. Before Dzhabrailov became a pro, his family made a move to Turkey, where he ended up meeting another future ONE Championship fighter, Halil Amir. Dzhabrailov began training with Amir, and then in 2023, he had his first pro MMA fight.
In his first two fights, the same ideas were clearly still there with his explosiveness and aggression. Personally, I don’t think he had it quite as refined or dialed in as he does now. Dzhabrailov’s Muay Thai has always looked very clean and fast, but in those first two fights, he was a bit more prone to over-swinging or missing on timing. His debut is mostly available in highlights. From what I’ve seen, Reza Babaei was one of his more aggressive opponents. One clip shows Babaei throwing clinch strikes while Dzhabrailov defends takedowns. His first layer of takedown defense looks solid, with balance as a clear strength. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much more of his debut, but he did cap it off with a round two submission.
His entire second fight is out there, and it gives a much clearer view of his overall skill set. While wrestling is his base and there to fall back on if needed. Muay Thai is definitely Dzhabrailov’s preferred way of engaging in a fight. Explosiveness and speed are very obviously the reasons why he is so dangerous. At range, he does good work with kicks and a jab, but at a moment’s notice, Dzhabrailov will spring into a powerful combination with his hands that transitions into clinch knees. One of the biggest downfalls of how he fights is that he will definitely take punches when coming into range, but he is not afraid to eat one or two to unload on his opponent.
So far, the biggest missteps that were in the tape I watched happened in the second fight. In round one, Dzhabrailov was cutting off his opponent well. However, one of his punches was intercepted by an inside leg kick. As he stumbled, he got clipped by a right hand. Dzhabrailov was flash dropped, but it looked like it was more due to the surprise of the punch landing than the power of the punch. He bounced back up immediately and ducked into a double leg that he finished against the cage. For most of the fight, Dzhabrailov relied on his grappling.
He showed a good ability to shoot takedowns from range and used combos to close the distance before shooting. On the ground, his control and positioning were solid, though he reached a few spots he could have finished from. That said, it’s minor nitpicking—ten seconds into round three, he ended the fight with a single right hand.
For his third fight, I couldn’t find any footage, but Dzhabrailov finished via first-round KO/TKO. Shortly after, he earned his call-up to ONE Championship. Just over two months later, he began his streak of devastating first-round finishes on the big stage.
In his ONE debut, he closed the distance with a combo, landed a clinch knee to the head, and followed with a barrage of punches for a 20-second KO/TKO. His second fight featured a sharp right hand at range, repeated slam takedowns, and ground-and-pound for a 47-second KO/TKO. In his most recent fight in June 2025, relentless combos to the head and body broke his opponent, and ground-and-pound secured his third straight first-round KO/TKO.
Even with his longest ONE fight lasting just one minute and 43 seconds, there’s little new to learn about Dzhabrailov’s abilities. What stands out is how he continues to improve at blending his skills and how his confidence keeps rising.
Dzhabrailov’s biggest holes come from his strengths. His aggression and explosiveness when closing distance with combinations leave him open to counter punches or a skilled wrestler ducking for takedowns. His takedown defense has held up, but mostly against lower-level opponents.
Cardio is another area to watch. A round-three KO shows he can still be dangerous late, but it will be interesting to see if a higher-level fighter can push him in the later rounds.
This weekend, Dzhabrailov headlines for the first time at 21, facing Chase Mann. Mann plans to use his own aggression and grappling to counter Dzhabrailov. By record, this is the toughest opponent Dzhabrailov has faced so far. Still, I fully expect him to continue his streak of brutal finishes.