It’s been 14 years since the fighter most think about to be one of the biggest of all time made his UFC debut.
And by matter of coincidence, on the same card, the UFC’s now long-running lead play-by-play voice made his dwell occasion debut with the promotion.
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On Jan. 20, 2012, the UFC set up store at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., for the second time in promotion historical past. UFC on FX 1 was the promotion’s second show under a broadcast deal with FOX that began one occasion earlier at UFC 142 in Brazil.
The occasion itself was pretty formulaic. In the most important occasion, Jim Miller submitted Melvin Guillard. Josh Neer submitted Duane Ludwig in the co-feature.
But among a lot of also-rans and largely forgettable names on the prelims, there was one who stood out: Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The future UFC light-weight champion and arguably the proverbial GOAT at 155 kilos, Nurmagomedov submitted Kamal Shalorus in the third spherical with a rear-naked choke. Amazingly, it was not only Nurmagomedov’s UFC debut – but battle week in Nashville was his first time in the United States.
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Nine fights after that debut, and a little more than six years later, Nurmagomedov won the vacant light-weight title against Al Iaquinta – who stays the only fighter to go 25 minutes with the ex-champ, who retired in 2020 at 29-0 after only 4 title fights.
Check out highlights from Nurmagomedov’s win over Shalorus above, called by Anik in their shared UFC debut.
This article initially appeared on MMA Junkie: Today in MMA historical past: Khabib, Anik debut at UFC Nashville in 2012
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