So far we’re 100% accurate in our picks of ‘Russian fighters we need to hype up before they hit big.’ Back in 2010, we told you about Alexander Shlemenko that had the power to back fist both time and space. Since then, he’s gone 13-1 in his MMA career with his only defeat being a unanimous decision against Hector Lombard for the Bellator middleweight title. Now, he’s the Bellator middleweight champion — so that fight is somewhat rendered void. Then we told you about Alexander Volkov — now he’s the Bellator heavyweight champion. A few weeks later, we informed you of a guy from RusFighters, Andrey Koreshkov. After mowing through the welterweight division, he’s next to face Ben Askren for the welterweight title.
If, in some freakish circumstance, the UFC would like to hop on our insanely-accurate predictions of future Russian fighters, perhaps they should pick-up on another Russian import: Muslim Salihov.[list class=”bullet-1″]
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Apparently Muslim Salihov has a fight coming up in M-1 Global (although we’re not sure when). Phuket Top Team created this highlight reel of Salihov which I’m sure you want to see. There, now you can be an MMA hipster and talk about Muslim Salihov at your friend’s party this weekend.