The main event of the RCC 13 tournament, which will be held on December 3 in Yekaterinburg, will be the long-awaited duel between Magomed Ismailov and Alexander Shlemenko. Many experts call the Bald Predator the favorite in this pair. Bookmakers’ odds confirm the validity of such forecasts: 1.29 for Magee’s victory against 3.80 for Storm.

Indeed, during his professional career, Ismailov rarely lost – only three failures. For the first time, the fighter knew the taste of defeat at the dawn of his career, when he could not cope with Anatoly Tokov. Public wishes to give in to the opponent eventually played a cruel joke on the Bald Predator. Magomed failed the fight himself, and even in such an annoying way. Being a basic wrestler, he got caught in an argument with a basic striker.

After such an oversight, Ismailov smashed the locker room out of grief.

“I want him to lose”

In May 2013, at the M-1 Challenge 39 tournament in Moscow, promising 27-year-old Magomed Ismailov had to fight with no less promising 23-year-old Anatoly Tokov. The student of Fedor Emelianenko, although he was younger, by that time had won 10 victories in mixed martial arts and only lost once. Bald Predator has not yet lost to anyone, but his professional record had only two victories.

Photo: © Anadolu Agency / Contributor / Anadolu Agency / Gettyimages.com

The fight was presented to the public as a confrontation between the two most promising fighters in the country in the middle weight category. The winner had good chances to claim the championship belt in the M-1 organization. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that a classic confrontation between a striker and a wrestler was expected in the octagon.

People were just getting used to the trash current in Russian mixed martial arts, but even then Maga managed to hook an opponent and actively practiced a valuable skill. Before the fight, he recorded a video with wishes.

“If I wish him luck, it would be cunning. I wish him to lose, and, of course, I wish to win for myself,” Ismailov said.

The performance continued just before the start of the fight. After the announcement of the release of the Bald Predator, a shaven-headed boy with a glued beard appeared before the public. He calmly reached the octagon and even climbed up to where Tokov was waiting for a completely different opponent.

It turned out that it was the son of Magomed, and he himself followed, hiding from the eyes under the hood. Subtly indicating to the enemy his level according to his own assessment, Maga himself climbed into the octagon. Probably, so that no one else would confuse where the real Ismailov was, the fighter appeared in a baseball cap with the inscription in Latin “Maga”. By the way, the ring announcer also for some reason decided that in Moscow it would be more appropriate to use a foreign language and announced the fighters exclusively in English.

“Here’s a fool!”

Started in this fight more successfully than Ismailov. He quite easily managed to lift the opponent, and then knock him over to the floor. Bald Predator began to strike in the stalls. It seemed that the intrigue in the confrontation was slowly dying, and Magomed would soon find a moment to finish Tokov.

But it wasn’t. Anatoly did not unhook the grip during the opponent’s throw. After waiting for the moment of crisis, he began to improve his position and tried to get up. In a cage, he would have succeeded, but the specific octagon fences in M-1 did not allow him to do this.

As a result, Tokov still got to his feet, although his back was still controlled by the enemy. Ismailov tried to take advantage and again threw Anatoly. True, he did it not in the best way, overturning the enemy on himself.

Anatoly Tokov and Magomed Ismailov / Photo: © Personal archive of Magomed Ismailov

“Maga just picked me up like a feather. And then I thought: “Here is a fool!” Although I’m pretty strong myself, I think. And when he threw me, I took my hand and slightly hooked his leg with my foot, ”Tokov later recalled in an interview with Match TV.

Just one mistake of the Bald Predator, and now the basic drummer Tokov has the opportunity to make a kimura a basic wrestler. But still, Anatoly’s skills were a little lacking, the hold turned out to be not ideal. At the same time, the risk remained that in a matter of seconds Magomed would replay the episode in his favor.

– I lie and think: “We need to change the grip of the legs.” But then I understand that he can run into me. Well, okay – I tried it, changed the grip of my legs – and Maga, instead of running at me, ran in the other direction. The one that I needed for the reception, – said Tokov.

Even after the second mistake in a row, Magomed resisted, did not want to put up with what was happening, but in the end he nevertheless admitted defeat. Currents twisted the reception to the end and ended the fight as a winner. There was no face on Ismailov – he was so upset after this failure. The Bald Predator was able to release his rage a little later, when he angrily smashed the locker room.