Muslim Salikhov

Salikhov faced Liu Hailong who held the title "King of Sanda" at the 2003 World Wushu Championships in Macau. Both were evenly matched, with Liu Hailong declared the winner.[5] Salikhov was the Sanshou champion at the 2004 European Wushu Championships held in Moscow and he became the World Champion in 2005. Muslim Salikhov is often acknowledged as one of the best Wushu Sanda competitors in history.[6]

In February 2006, he participated in the first international "King of Sanda" tournament in Chongqing and became the first non-Chinese to win the title, making European Wushu Federation arguably the strongest continental Wushu federation of the world.[7] He again won the world title in 2007[6] and 2009,[8] and also the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament.[9]

Salikhov made his professional MMA debut in July 2011. Over the next year and a half, he earned a record of two wins and one loss.

By early 2013, Salikhov signed with M-1 Global, preparing with Phuket Top Team for his mixed martial arts debut.[10][11] He fought three times for the promotion, going undefeated during this run.

Beginning in 2015, Salikhov fought for various regional promotions in China and Russia. He has fought seven times over the last two years, again remaining undefeated in this run with six of the sevens wins coming via knockout.

Salikhov notched his biggest win to date when he earned a victory over UFC and Bellator vet Melvin Guillard by spinning hook kick.[12]

On 19 October 2017 Salikhov signed with the UFC.[13]

In his debut for the promotion, Salikhov faced Alex Garcia on November 25, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 122.[14] He lost the fight via submission in the second round.[15]

Salikhov faced Abdul Razak Alhassan on 14 April 2018 on UFC on FOX 29.[16] However, Alhassan was pulled from the card, citing injury, and he was replaced by promotional newcomer Ricky Rainey.[17] He won the fight via technical knock out in round two.[18]

On July 20, 2018, Salikhov was notified of a potential doping violation by USADA from an out-of-competition sample collected on June 7, 2018.[19] On March 4, 2019 Salikhov was cleared of USADA suspension as USADA cannot determine if Salikhov had ingested oral Turinabol a year before he was signed to the UFC and entered the USADA drug-testing program.[20]

Salikhov faced Nordine Taleb on September 7, 2019 at UFC 242.[21] He won the fight via knockout in the first round.[22] This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.[23]

Salikhov faced Laureano Staropoli on October 26, 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 20.[24] He won the fight via unanimous decision.[25]

Salikhov was expected to face Niko Price on April 11, 2020 at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris.[26] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was eventually postponed and pairing scrapped.[27]

Salikhov faced Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos on July 11, 2020 at UFC 251.[28] He won the fight via a split decision.[29]

Salikhov was scheduled to face Cláudio Silva on October 18, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 180.[30] However on October 4, it was announced that Salikhov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by James Krause.[31]

Salikhov was scheduled to face Santiago Ponzinibbio on January 16, 2021 at UFC on ABC 1.[32] However, Salikhov pulled out of the bout in mid-December citing health issues after contracting COVID-19.[33]