Makhov warns heavyweights: Olympic Gold then UFC title on my ‘to do list’

On April 25, 2015, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced the signing of a 6’5″ 290-pound Russian wrestling icon, Bilyal Makhov. The promotion brought the inexperienced 0-0 fighter onto their roster well aware that it would be nearly two year before they could reap the rewards.

A UFC heavyweight title run would simply have to wait.

Makhov, a three-time World freestyle champion, had his sights set on Olympic gold in 2016. That was his priority, and his lifelong ambition. Countless hours spent in the steamy gyms in Dagestan would culminate in Makhov biting down on his gold medal while his beaming face radiated brightly for his countrymen to celebrate back home.

The 28-year-old was a representative of the North Caucasus. While his potential Olympic medal would add to the overall Russian medal count, Makhov is a product of Kabardino Balkaria & Dagestan.

“I was born in Kabardino Balkaria,” Makhov told BloodyElbow through translator Murat Keshtov. “Then I went to boarding school in Dagestan. Basically, I grew up in Dagestan since I was 15 years old. That is where I started my wrestling career. So I have a mixed background. I represent two republics.”

Makhov didn’t start his wrestling career at just any old school. He stepped into one of Russia’s greatest wrestling schools, the Khasavyurt Wrestling Olympic Reserve School, by chance, and that changed his life forever.

“It was specifically the gym that I was involved in that was one of the best teams in Russia. The gym itself was very impressive. It already had two Olympic champions, three World champions, while the rest were all Russian champions. So of course that type of team influenced me.”

“In that gym, there was like a cloud of sweat – steam from sweat. The atmosphere of this gym is that from 7am to 9pm there is probably a thousand people training there. It is group after group, one session after the other. It is one of the most famous gyms in the entire world for wrestling.”

Makhov felt entirely at home. He was a prodigy of sorts from the very beginning. As an 18-year-old just three years into his freestyle training, Bilyal won the Junior World Championships – one of his proudest achievements. A year later, he claimed his first Russian Championships title and was eligible for the World Cup team.  In his first world …

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