First Things First

This weekend was dominated by a boxing super card. David Benavidez continued his march to take out everyone around Canelo, and Gervonta Davis delivered another horrific knockout. The MMA action was lackluster.

The UFC’s main event ended with a freak injury. But before that we saw one of the key players in the next wave of MMA stars. Today we’re talking about them and the nation that pushed them out.

Kazakhstan’s History Of Violence

One of the most interesting elements of the global combat sports spectacle is watching a small pocket of people rise and put themselves at the front of the sport. It makes sense why it happens in fighting and not other sports. No other activity makes up for a lack of rules and equipment with grit, will, and physicality quite like fighting.

Kazakhstan is the next country poised for the pinnacle of combat. The country itself is no stranger to violence.

Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world. It’s been inhabited by nomadic tribes looking for safe places to rest their heads for thousands of years. Even the word Kazak originates from the Turkic word for wandering.

In a day lost to time, Kazakh tribes invented a novel way to settle tribal disputes and preserve life; the “zhekpezhek”. Kazakh for “one on one.”

A zhekpezhek fight was a one-on-one battle to the death using pre-determined weapons. Two disputing groups would nominate one man each from their faction to fight as a representative for the whole. A zhekpezhek would mean victory (or defeat) for the whole tribe, but only one man would die.

The need for zhekpezhek fights passed and the practice was deemed too violent. The spirit never left the steppe though.

The 21st century revived zhekpezhek as a modern sport. In 2004, the Kazakh ZhekpeZhek Federation was established with the government’s help to re-introduce the once-popular martial art to a new generation. Today, zhekpezhek is sometimes called the ultimate fighting of Central Asia because it combines wrestling, judo, jiujitsu and kickboxing, and has few rules.

There are two five-minute rounds in a match. If there is no stoppage after 10 minutes, a third round is fought. If there’s no winner after a third round, the referees choose the victor. Fights are held in a ring, usually with helmets and elbow pads, though safety equipment isn’t standardized.

Local and regional municipalities support zhekpezhek training centers across the steppe. Entrepreneurs have even joined the government in funding combat sport organizations across the country.

Fighting For The Future

Ten years after The Kazakh ZhekpeZhek Federation started, an entrepreneur named Alidar Utemuratov started an investment company to take advantage of the digitalization of the area. The group, DAR, spun out numerous companies and projects. Dar Launched NAIZA Fighting Championship, Kazakhstan’s premier fighting organization, as well as a gym and pro team both named DAR.

DAR Team has since founded 11 clubs in different regions of the country. DAR plans to open 14 more centers so vulnerable children can participate in the sport. While the centers are designed around combat sports, they also employ other teachers to teach children logic, critical thinking, languages, reading, etc..

Using combat sports as a means of personal and youth development is nothing new. That was one of Jigoro Kano’s goals with creating and proselytizating judo. DAR’s centers are similar to Brazil’s Dream Art and Melqui Galvao’s BJJ super facility in Manaus.

Today, DAR’s pro team trains 20 fighters. Shavkat Rakhmonov, formerly Damir Ismagulov, and, the subject of today’s technical takeaways, Assu Almabayev.

Technical Takeaways

Almabayev is part of the next crop of flyweights moving into the top 10 of the division. He’s 30 years old with 20 wins, only 2 losses, and 9 submissions.

Almabayev is a great wrestler with a deep set of skills that all center around getting behind you as quickly as possible. He gets inside, takes an angle, and puts pressure on until you’re forced to turn away and give up your back.

Let’s look at the three distinct phases that characterize his grappling game.

Lightning Fast Level Changes

Almabayev is compact at 5’4. He takes advantage of his low center of gravity to get to his opponents’ hips quickly.

Almabayev doesn’t only finish with singles and doubles. Almabayev can integrate trips to take advantage of his opponent’s first line of defense.

Notice how Almabayev shoots with his head outside? In MMA and jiujitsu, coaches say that’s bad technique because of the risk of guillotine chokes. That’s not the full story.

With great risk comes great reward. Shooting with your head outside does risk choke counters, yes, but it can also give you a direct avenue to take the back. As long as your posture is good, you can stay safe with your head outside.

Almabayev uses this strong posture and head positioning to make the most of his position on the mat as well.

Head First Pressure Passing

Almabayev’s keeps a pretty low posture on the mat. That has the potential to get him in trouble with triangle chokes.

That low posture also incentivizes his opponents to turn and try to get up, which allows him to progress up their side for back takes.

Almabayev’s passing style kind of looks like the current no-gi body lock passing game. He sticks his head high up his opponent’s spine and hugs their hips to prevent them from recomposing their guard. If they sit up, he’ll wrist ride and punch like above. Instead of pulling the post out, you’ll often see Almabayev ride the wrist all the way to the back.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t look at some of Almabayev’s finishes.

Finishing On The Back

Almabayev is not a back packer. He constantly hits and harasses his opponent’s face to open up space for the rear naked choke.

Here we see Almabayev combine pressure passing and back attacks to get the choke.

Below you’ll see Almabayev get to the back from that same head outside position we looked at at the beginning of the article.

Kazakhstan’s Place Among The Next Generation

Assu Almabayev looks like he’s ready to join the UFC flyweight division’s top 10. He already has a win over UFC vet and former Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zach Makovsky. Almabayev’s stablemate is a step ahead in the rankings though.

Shavkat Rakhmonov is ranked third in the UFC’s welterweight division. He’s undefeated and has finished every opponent he has fought as a pro. “Nomad” is the boogeyman.

Rakhmonov is currently on the other end of an ankle injury he had going into his last fight. Rumors say he’s getting the next title shot after Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards fight. Ahead of his return, we’ll be studying what makes him so special to figure out how he finished all 18 of his opponents.

In the meantime, we’ll be looking for the next pocket of people fighting for the respect of the world.

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