Yaroslav Amosov has a key edge over Islam Makhachev, according to someone who has gotten in some direct work with the former. This combatant in question is Daniil Donchenko, and he hones his skills with several championship-caliber people at Syndicate MMA. Merab Dvalishvili is certainly a standout name from the gym. But also Yaroslav Amosov hones hos skills there, and the latter was involved in Donchenko’s corner for his last fight in the UFC.
When delving into some of the quality people he surrounds himself with and then also parsing through some of the bigger welterweight players in the UFC today, Donchenko said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Of course John Wood, my head coach of Syndicate, coach of the year. A lot of muscles, but he’s smart, you know [laughs]. He’s smart, smart coach and I like atmosphere in Syndicate [MMA]. I like the energy in this gym and I like the energy of John Wood. He’s smart. Smart and nice. So, it’s the most important with good energy. Then it’s Yaroslav Amosov, ex-Bellator champion, future UFC champion. Because this guy, he is like; he’s different.”
“People will understand this soon. Now they just put some comments, oh Makhachev can smash, can beat him. But one thing that I can say, Yaroslav Amosov, he have much better wrestling and grappling than Islam Makhachev and even than Khamzat Chimaev too. So just give this guy time and fights and he will prove it. He don’t need five, six fights before title. Give him one more and title, he’s ready. Only this fight makes sense for me because only Yaroslav can defend and can take Islam down.”
Yaroslav Amosov and one other prominent fighter would be Islam Makhachev’s toughest UFC tests, per Donchenko
When explaining why a Yaroslav Amosov versus Islam Makhachev fight is the top bout one could make at 170 pounds in the UFC, while looking at other prominent divisional figures, Donchenko stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“So only this fight for me makes sense because another fights in this weight class, it’s not really like competitive. Because no one have this kind of wrestling and grappling. Maybe only [Michael] Morales will be interesting with Islam because Morales have more chance because he have knockout power. So everything can change in every moment.”
“But another division like Kamaru [Usman], everyone else, they don’t have this kind of wrestling. Maybe Shavkat Rakhmonov but we saw he’s injured you know. So only interesting fight[s] against Makhachev, it’s Ilia Topuria and Yaroslav Amosov.”