UFC Star Drops Hilarious Video Showing the Effect of Ignoring Islam Makhachev’s Advice to Spend 2-3 Years in Dagestan

Islam Makhachev’s advice to “send him to Dagestan for 2-3 years and forget” has officially reached meme status in the MMA community. The UFC lightweight champion famously made that remark during an interview with Daniel Cormier, when Cormier was talking about how his son was getting into wrestling. For Makhachev, the solution was simple: ship the kid off to Dagestan for a few years and watch him come back a beast.

Well, apparently, that advice is echoing far beyond just wrestling dads. UFC Fight Pass star and former ONE Championship grappler Mikey Musumeci has now joined in on the fun, posting a hilarious clip on Instagram.

The video shows him casually lying on his back at the start of a match, clearly trying to bait his opponent into some good old-fashioned grappling warfare.

But the real kicker was the caption. Musumeci played off Makhachev’s iconic line, writing, “When your parents didn’t send you 2-3 years to Dagestan and forget.” And if that wasn’t enough, he doubled down with another gem, “Should I go 6 months 1 time I can make phone call?” The whole post feels like a wink to the MMA community, acknowledging the insane grappling skill Dagestan fighters are known for.

Fans in the comments were eating it up, throwing out jokes about how Musumeci could turn into the next grappling monster if he made that trip.

There is also a level of humility to this post, since Musumeci’s wrestling is not to be taken lightly either. The former One Championship fighter is a four-time World Champion and Pan American Champion, he is also a five-time IBJJF black belt World Champion (four times in Gi and once in No-Gi), and the first American to win more than one IBJJF World title at black belt. Those accomplishments speak for themselves.

So, quite honestly, if Musumeci ever did decide to take a grappling pilgrimage to Dagestan, the entire MMA community would be glued to their screens waiting to see the results.

Interestingly, Makhachev’s advice is actually being followed by some people across the world, who are happy to send their kids to Dagestan and totally forget about them.

Islam’s meme comes to life

Gonzalo, a young Spanish grappler, recently came across UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, while on a trip to Dagestan.

Looking to learn the secrets of Team Khabib’s wrestling prowess, he is reported to have made the cross-continental journey. Although there is no indication of how he got into the tight-knit community of ‘The Eagle’s’ team, Makhachev posted a video of him on social media.

In the video, the UFC lightweight champ sat down with Gonzalo after a training session and asked him how he felt. The Spaniard responded saying, “Good but so tired, so so tired, the training of Dagestan.” Before the champ himself chimed in,with – “First guy who come to Dagestan… 2-3 years send him to Dagestan.”

But wait, it doesn’t end there, it turns out, that the same Spaniard has also trained with the likes of Ilia Topuria in the past. And when the UFC lightweight champ heard the news, he immediately put Gonzalo to the ground and covered his mouth till he tapped out.