MMA: how a Moscow boy convinced the American Kickboxing Academy to sign future UFC superstar Khabib Nurmagomedov
- MMA manager Kolesnikov recounts befriending Cormier and other US Olympic teammates
- The former competitive wrestler says he convinced ‘King Mo’ to bring now-UFC lightweight champion Khabib to American Kickboxing Academy
Imagine you are a hungry teenage wrestler from Moscow – training alone in the gym, as you have done since the age of six – grinding towards that MMA dream of yours. Then wrestling stars-turned-MMA legends Daniel Cormier and Muhammed Lawal suddenly stroll in.
“DC” and “King Mo” – alongside the rest of the US wrestling team – are in town for a grapple against some of Russia’s notoriously high-level and unbreakable wrestlers, of which there are many. The problem is, “Mo” & Co. do not speak Russian, and neither of your Russian peers can converse in English.
“I was around 15 training MMA in my hometown in Moscow – the same year the US wrestling team came,” recounted MMA manager Gennady Kolesnikov, who gained his first taste of being the crucial behind-the-scenes fixer then and there. “King Mo and Cormier were there practising for a tournament and I was the only one who could speak English.
“It wasn’t as good as it is right now, but I knew a couple of words. That’s pretty much how we met. That was 2007 – that’s how long we’ve known each other. Every time we talk they say: ‘it’s crazy how fast time flies because when we met you, you were just a kid but now you’re a grown man!” added the 29-year-old former competitive wrestler.
Kolesnikov, unsharpened wrestling and English skills at hand, would become the team’s “Russian ambassador” every time they frequented the capital. Over time, he would be introduced to division one collegiate wrestler, US national wrestling champion and current Bellator fighter Shawn Bunch. Bunch, who like Cormier and Lawal is part of the world-renowned American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose, California, would help Kolesnikov make the move to the States.
