Athletes
A Big Deal Gets Bigger For Nazim Sadykhov
Rising Serra-Longo Talent Brings It All Full Circle Saturday At Madison Square Garden
Nazim Sadykhov proudly represents his native Azerbaijan, but for much of his life since the age of seven, the 29-year-old has called Brooklyn home. So as a Brooklynite, making the trip on the Belt Parkway out to Long Island on a daily basis isn’t as easy as it may look on a map.
“Oh, my goodness,” said Sadykhov. “It's a mess. Day and night, summer, winter, it doesn't matter.”
I mention this because in 2015, Sadykhov began training with a fighter named Merab Dvalishvili. You may have heard of him. But before the pair moved to the Serra-Longo camp, it was just long days where the commutes were often longer than the training sessions. It was a testament to the work ethic and will of Sadykhov, who wanted nothing more than to become a professional fighter.
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“There was a point where I was traveling from Brooklyn every day, and it's not that I couldn't do it, but it made it so much harder having to sit in traffic for an hour-and-a-half, get to training and you're already tired. By then, the last thing that’s on your mind is training. You just want to rest from that long ride, but then you have to put in work, let alone put in a training camp for a professional fight.”
But once Sadykhov linked up with Serra-Longo, home to a host of UFC champions, contenders, prospects over the years, he found the place that was going to help him land in the big show. And while Brooklyn is always in his heart, in 2020, he made the move to Long Island.
“These guys (at Serra-Longo) were able to help us and pave the way,” Sadykhov said. “They’re older and they're already accomplished in the sport, so they're showing us the blueprint for what you do after you're finished with the sport. We pretty much have the roadmap to success thanks to these guys. What we make of it and the success we have, that's up to God and that's up to the amount of work we put in. But that's never a problem with us. We're a hardworking team. We collectively work hard. So hopefully, God willing, everything works in our favor, and we end up following the footsteps of these guys.”
“These guys” are the champions – Matt Serra, Chris Weidman, Aljamain Sterling - and the contenders – Al Iaquinta and Dvalishvilli – under the tutelage of Ray Longo, who have led the way for a trio of up and comers to make it to Madison Square Garden this weekend, and Sadykhov, Matt Frevola and Dennis Buzukja can’t wait to represent their team in the Big Apple. It’s an easier commute than heading out to Las Vegas, but it’s harder to get to this point as a mixed martial artist who lives here.
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“To be honest with you, New York, aside from Long Island, New York City is not a fighter city. It's not the city that you come to for a mixed martial arts career. California is for that, Las Vegas is for that, but not New York City. Long Island is the only place you can make it happen. But Long Island isn't a hotbed for fighters from around the world to come to. So it's basically all local talent coming together.”
Sadykhov was one of those local talents who found his way to MMA after growing up in traditional martial arts on the suggestion (or insistence) of his father.
“I came up in a traditional family,” he said. “My father is a traditional man, so he put me in the sport initially to be able to defend myself, to grow up being able to defend myself and my family. It's just like an honor code. And I competed from the age of six. I was already in karate tournaments, sambo tournaments, judo tournaments, and pretty much my entire youth, I was competing in parallel with school. But everything in school did not bring me the type of feeling that fighting brought me.”
And after he won the WKA U.S. Nationals in kickboxing, the die was cast as soon as he went back to school on Monday morning.
“That was my first taste of what it was like to have that superstardom,” he said. “And it's not the superstardom that hooked me, but just the process of it all. It's like fighting was so much more and it brought so much more excitement, not only to myself, but the people around me that watched me.”
After graduation, Sadykhov went to college, but it wasn’t for him. Fighting was his path. And whether it was training in Oceanside with Dvalishvili or the K-Dojo team in Fairfield, New Jersey, Sadykhov was piling up the miles after work, intent on getting to the UFC.
He turned pro in 2018, lost his debut, then reeled off three wins before injuries, and then the COVID-19 pandemic kept him out of action for over a year. But he stayed the course.
“It ended up all working out and everything aligned,” said Sadykhov in the understatement of the year. “I got my few fights in a row, I was able to impress on the regional scene in Fury FC, I got my shot for the Contender Series and, thankfully I was able to showcase myself ever since. I've had a few good performances back-to-back. So here we are, MSG.”
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Well, that’s kind of condensing things a bit, Nazim, but when he returned to active duty in October of 2021, he reeled off three finishes, then got the call for Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022. He punched his ticket to the UFC with a knockout of Ahmad Hasanzada and has since finished both of his Octagon fights in 2023, stopping Evan Elder and submitting Terrance McKinney. Now it’s Viacheslav Borshchev in the Garden. And yes, here we are.
It's a big deal for Sadykhov, his family, his friends and his team. And on Monday back in the gym, he’ll probably get all those feelings he had in high school after winning Nationals. But it’s not about the pats on the back. It’s a lot more than that.
“It wasn't about people gassing you up and ‘Wow, this feels so good,’” he explains. “It was more about, wow, this achievement, it was me that was being congratulated. Not the guy that aced his math test, his science test, not the guy that I don't know who won a dance competition. It was the guy that went in the ring and had enough bravery and enough honor to step in there and come out on top. And that accomplishment is what drove me. It wasn't even the stardom thing; it was the accomplishment. And I just kept wanting to get more and more. It was just this constant chase of success. How far can you take this thing? I took it as far as I did, and now I want to see exactly how far I can keep going and see what I can make of this thing.”
UFC 295: Procházka vs Pereira took place live from Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 11, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
