Does Magomed Ankalaev train with Khabib Nurmagomedov?

No, when Magomed Ankalaev trains for his fights in the United States, the Dagestani fighter trains at Xtreme Couture. Meanwhile, the illustrious Khabib Nurmagomedov trained at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) led by Javier Mendez. The gym has produced several champions in the UFC like Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold, Khabib and now Islam Makhachev.

However, Xtreme Couture has played host to many high-level fighters, with the likes of Francis Ngannou, Jiri Prochazka, Sean Strickland and Miesha Tate all training at the Randy Couture-owned gym. In recent years, the gym has helped Ngannou and Strickland achieve their title goals in the UFC.

Ankalaev spoke about some of the training he does at Xtreme Couture while speaking to Telecom Asia Sport back in March 2022. He said:

"Xtreme Couture has its own coaches, including freestyle wrestling and grappling. We trained wrestling and grappling there, and the rest of the time I did individual work with Suhrab [Magomedov]."

Watch Ankalaev train alongside Sean Strickland at Xtreme Couture here:

Magomed Ankalaev is scheduled to face Johnny Walker at UFC 294 this weekend. The Russian will most likely have the chance to secure another shot at the UFC light heavyweight title if he beats Walker.

Walker is coming into this fight with the momentum of three-fight winning streak. After going 1-4 over the last few years, Walker came out strong over the last one year. He has defeated Ion Cutelaba, Paul Craig and Anthony Smith in recent outings.

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Who is the only fighter to have beaten Magomed Ankalaev in professional MMA?

Magomed Ankalaev has a near-perfect record of 19 wins, one draw and just one loss since making his professional MMA debut back in 2014. Ankalaev suffered his only defeat when taking on Paul Craig in his first appearance under the UFC banner.

Craig managed to submit the Dagestani fighter inside three rounds at UFC Fight Night 127: Werdum vs. Volkov. Ankalaev was on a nine-fight winning streak upon entering the UFC after dominating at Akhmat Fight Club for the majority of his pre-UFC career.

Since losing against Paul Craig on his UFC debut, Magomed Ankalaev has gone on to win his nine outings in the organization. The Russian has beaten the likes of Ion Cutelaba, Volkan Oezdemir, Thiago Santos, and Anthony 'Lionheart' Smith.

Magomed Ankalaev is one of the few light heavyweight fighters that can win the fight on the ground as well as in the stand-up. It will be interesting to see how he performs against the likes of Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira in future.