Most adopt an “as close as I’ll come” approach, turning bouts in their home state or country into marquee fights that carry greater meaning and significance, like the Canadian contingent making the walk to the Octagon in the Great Fight North, athletes from the United Kingdom competing in London, and the Australian/New Zealander and Asian competitors on the roster getting to throw down in Australia or China, respectively.
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Until this year, the idea of fighting in his hometown of Baku, Azerbaijan was nothing more than a bucket list item for Nazim Sadykhov, who moved to Brooklyn with his family in his early elementary school years and now resides in Las Vegas. But then the UFC announced its inaugural event at Baku Crystal Hall in June, and the Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) graduate got the chance only a few ever receive.
“Cinematic: you couldn’t write a movie script like that,” Sadykhov said of competing at home, where he earned a second-round stoppage win over Nikolas Motta. “Fight Night aside, the treatment, the reception from my people, the love, the feeling of heroism because of the fans and the people, what they say — I don’t know what to say; it gives me goosebumps.”
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