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#4 Rustam Khabilov (22-3)
While Khabib Nurmagomedov is the prime focus of the Lightweight division, his fellow countryman have been away from the limelight for various reasons. Rustam Khabilov is one of them. 'The Tiger' has been with the UFC since 2012 and yet, is outside the top 15 in the official UFC Lightweight Rankings. He is 11-2 in the UFC and was always primed to be a top contender in the stacked 155lb division.
However, Khabilov’s story is more or less similar to Taisumov. Recurring visa issues, consecutive losses to Benson Henderson and Adriano Martins and a botched weight cut at UFC 206 have hindered Khabilov’s UFC career from truly taking off. The diminutive Russian is currently on a six-fight win streak in the UFC with his most recent victory coming against Kajan Johnson in September 2018 at UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Ollynyk in Moscow, Russia.
Post the Johnson fight, Khabilov expressed his frustrations regarding his inability to get a visa to fight in America which has inadvertently increased the time between his fights. He has been called out by #4 ranked Lightweight Kevin Lee on various occasions in the past and the Dagestani Combat Sambo specialist is aching to get his visa in place not only to shut Lee up but to also feature regularly on UFC cards in the future.
All the setbacks aside, Khabilov is similar to Nurmagomedov as both men are accomplished Sambo practitioners with a relentless grappling style. The only thing that is dissimilar are their visas and we hope that changes soon.
