MAKHACHKALA, Oct 26 Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov met on Wednesday at the Dagestan airport Islam Makhachev, the owner of the champion belt of the Absolute Fighting Championship (UFC) in lightweight Islam Makhachev, the press service of the head of the region reports. On Saturday, in the main fight of the UFC 280 tournament in Abu Dhabi, Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira by choke in the second round. He won the 11th fight in a row and interrupted the Brazilian's winning streak of the same number of fights. Together with Melikov, the champion was met at the airport by the Minister of Sports Sajid Sazhidov, relatives, friends and fans. «We were all waiting for this fight and had no doubt that the result would be exactly I know that behind this victory — hard training under the strict control of Khabib Nurmagomedov. Islam, you proved to the whole world that you are now the best in lightweight. The belt is now in safe hands. We are proud of you!» — the press service quotes the head of the region. Melikov thanked the father of the champion for raising an outstanding athlete. Islam Makhachev thanked for the attention and said that he had been moving towards this goal for a long time. «This victory means a lot to me. I am glad that I have achieved the goal to which so aspired. The belt is probably not as hard to win as it is to keep it. Now I plan to defend it. After the last victory, I climbed to third place in the ranking of the best UFC fighters. There is a goal — to lead this rating, «said Makhachev. dedicated to coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.
