“I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I think now is the time to try MMA in the best league in the world,” the 28-year-old native of Dagestan said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I am very grateful to my manager and Bellator for giving me this opportunity”
According to Kadimagomedov, he is not going to give up the fight and plans to compete for Olympic gold next year.
“I’m not going to give up the fight. I will compete in parallel in wrestling and MMA. My dream is to be number one in wrestling and number one in MMA. I want to beat Henry Cejudo’s record. It is my goal”
The Russian will be preparing for his debut fight in mixed martial arts with the team of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who at one time called Kadimagomedov one of his favorite fighters.
“I’m going to train with the Nurmagomedov team at Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s school. I have been training with these guys for a long time and training with them has brought me a lot of benefits. I don’t want to rush, I have to fight and spar, but I don’t like to wait too long. I’ll probably fight soon.”
About when Kadimagomedov will hold his first fight in MMA, and who will become his opponent, there is no information yet.