During the next two decades he helped build Dagestan into the sanda capital of Russia, and has produced an impressive amount of Russia’s top champion fighters.Įven at the age of nine, Muslim’s coach saw his raw talent and put him in the top sanda training class. His coach Gusein Magomaev was one of the early pioneers of wushu/sanda in Russia, having trained in China in the 1980s and opening his famous Five Directions of the World wushu school in Dagestan in 1991. Muslim started training in sanda in Makhachkala when he was nine years old. But even though some of my teammates on our sanda team spoke different home languages, we’d all speak Russian when we traveled and competed together. We have 32 nationalities there,” notes Muslim, “and everyone lives together happily, all like brothers, even though we speak 32 different languages. Our whole Russian team is always very famous for sanda, and Dagestan has the best sanda schools in Russia.
“It’s beautiful country there,” he says, “with mountains and ocean.
Muslim was born in the city of Makhachkala in Dagestan, near the Caspian Sea. Currently Salikhov is signed to the UFC where he fights in the welterweight division, and never forgetting his roots, he now brings his classic sanda techniques to millions of viewers worldwide. His odyssey from his native land, the Republic of Dagestan in southern Russia, to China, Thailand and ultimately the global world of MMA, has helped make him a top ambassador of sanda. He won a record-breaking five gold medals in the World Wushu Championships during his amateur fighting career spanning 2003-2015.
Wushu’s legendary “Sanda King” Muslim Salikhov reigned as Russia’s top sanda fighter for well over a decade, and he remains one of the sport’s most highly respected and beloved athletes.
0 kommentar(er)
