After his remarkable journey, Shamil Erdogan now hopes to take out a legend and prove that he is one of the best fighters in the world.
The undefeated 34-year-old will face Aung La N Sang in an MMA middleweight bout at ONE 168: Denver on Friday, September 6, and he knows an impressive performance on U.S. soil would take his career to the next level.
Erdogan has worked hard for more than two decades to reach this point, and his next appearance at Ball Arena is his biggest opportunity yet.
Before he faces the former ONE MMA two-weight world champion, learn how the athlete born in rural Dagestan fought his way to the top.
“We were not allowed to show any weakness”
Erdogan was born in the mountainous region of Kizilyurt in Dagestan, where he grew up with his parents, who were teachers, and his younger brother.
Given their jobs, it is not surprising that the Russian’s parents were great role models and loving educators – and he sees their influence as a driving force behind his own worldview:
“I always thank God for giving me such parents. My parents loved me and my brother. My mother gave us her love and my father was strict. That was the ideal way to raise children at that time.
“You have to understand: my parents grew up and lived in the Soviet Union, where the state tried to take away a man’s identity and turn him into a robot. But my father managed to preserve the Highlander’s code – this spirit of freedom and honor – and pass it on to me, for which I am very grateful to him.”
That doesn’t mean it was always an easy childhood.
On the streets of the Russian Republic – an area that has already seen much violence and conflict – things were tough and only the strong survived.
Erdogan stated:
“In the 90s, when children had neither tablets nor cell phones, we could say that we lived on the streets and lived according to their laws, where the weak could not live, where there were physical and moral abuses, where we were not allowed to show weakness. We lived like a pack of wolves.”
Led by his father
Erdogan’s father knew that a hobby would be a good way for his son to spend his time more meaningfully and give him some direction, so he enrolled him in freestyle wrestling.
The family patriarch was actively involved in his son’s development and made sure to support and encourage Erdogan every step of the way:
“When I was 12, my dad took me to the wrestling club for the first time. But it wasn’t like he just handed me over to the coaches and let me do my own thing.
“He made sure I got up every morning to train, never missed a training session and found time to drive me to competitions. I’m sure I wouldn’t have become what I am today without his supervision.”
However, things did not always go smoothly for the young man and it seemed that despite his efforts, he would not become the elite wrestler he wanted to be.
Given the enormous success of the sport in the region, Erdogan initially landed at the bottom of the list, but his father’s encouragement pushed him further up the list.
He recalled:
“In Dagestan, wrestling is a very popular sport, so at the beginning I was not very good. I remember losing one tournament after another in my youth and with my weak mind I thought I was doing a pointless activity.
“But my father told me the most important thing was consistency, then the results would come. And he was right.”
MMA instead of wrestling
Erdogan’s persistence finally paid off in successful results in competitions.
The Kizilyurt native used the lessons of his early defeats to improve. He was soon on the podium and moving up the leagues – even defeating the current ONE MMA three-division world champion Anatoly Malykhin on the wrestling mat.
After competing for his home country, Erdogan accepted an offer to move to Turkey and represent the country. He soon found success on the world stage under his new flag:
“At a young age, I joined the Russian national team and stayed there until I was offered to join the Turkish national team. The most memorable medal for me is (a bronze medal) from the World Championship.”
At this point, MMA was gaining increasing importance – and piqued Erodgan’s interest.
Given all the new facets to learn and the intensity of the fight, his passion and focus quickly shifted from wrestling to the all-round sport:
“At some point, wrestling became too boring for me. It just couldn’t give me the emotions that I get from MMA.
“In the beginning I tried to combine wrestling with my MMA career, but the further I got, the more I realized that I had to choose one or the other. I am grateful to wrestling for everything it has given me, but my decision, even against my father’s wishes, was to do MMA.”
The goal is world champion gold in ONE
Erdogan currently has a 9-0 record in his professional MMA career and appears poised to continue moving up.
He showed off his all-round skills in his ONE debut last year, stopping Fan Rong with a brutal kick to the body, and now has his sights set on the biggest names.
The Kremost Fight Club representative has a chance to grab a huge scalp when he faces Aung La N Sang at ONE 168: Denver. From there, he plans to take the division gold currently held by his old rival Malykhin.
Erdogan added:
“Aung La N Sang is one of the best. He has a legacy. In his time he was champion in two weight classes. I hope that a victory over him will open the door to a championship belt.
“I would like to compete against Anatoly Malychin. I have a good relationship with him and know him from the time when we competed in freestyle wrestling.
“But he is now the champion in my weight class and if that stays that way, our fight is inevitable.”
