Islam Makhachev still isn’t as popular as his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov, but he’s getting there. One thing that’s helping him is his viral quote, ‘Send Dagestan 2-3 years and forget.’
“It’s not like joke I said at the time,” Makhachev told Arena Fight TV. “I see Daniel Cormier and I’m talking about the wrestling and he say, ‘I want my son to become high level wrestler.’ And I just tell him, ‘Hey, in U.S. right now you’re not going to push your son very hard. But we have place and everyone will know
it’s your son. We’re gonna take care of him. Give him good school, good coaches who can help him.”
“In my mind if you really want to help your son become good wrestler, just sent him for 2-3 years and he will come back and he’s gonna be American champion, minimum.
It’s not quite as pithy as Khabib’s ‘Number one bulls–t’ but ‘Send Dagestan 2-3 years and forget’ clearly resonated with a lot of people, including one Anthony Joshua, who made the trip from the U.K. to Dubai to meet Makhachev during the PFL’s last event in the U.A.E.
Joshua doesn’t just like the saying, he loves it. So much, according to Islam, that he wants to make merchandise featuring it.
“Anthony Joshua told me he wants to make t-shirts,” Makhachev said of their meeting. “I said ‘Okay, I’ll give you approval. You can make t-shirts. And also, you have to come to Dagestan to improve your wrestling.”
That’s right, Joshua will have to send himself to Dagestan if he wants ‘Send Dagestan’ merch.
“This guy is huge, big, very good striking, one of the best boxers in the world,” Makhachev added. “If this big guy improves his wrestling, can you imagine how good he’s gonna be?”
The idea of Anthony Joshua rounding out his skillset and becoming a mixed martial artist is interesting but less than likely. “AJ” is already at the top of boxing where the taxes he pays on his purses are higher than anything the largest UFC star has ever earned. Why would he want to add wrestling and grappling to his training when he’s already a master at his own martial art?
If Anthony Joshua does fight again — and it’s still uncertain after the boxer survived a horrific car crash a few months ago — we expect it will be against Tyson Fury later in 2026. But maybe he’ll help convince some other hungry young U.K. fighters to book a trip to Dagestan, where some of the world’s best grapplers are forged.
