CAREER NOTES

Timur Khizriev is a Russian featherweight and a PFL featherweight world champion. Known as Imam, he was born and raised in Makhachkala, Dagestan, and he splits his training between Makhachkala and Coconut Creek, Florida. He is undefeated as a professional, and he built that standing on wrestling, control and a pace opponents have not been able to break. He is a product of DagFighter and American Top Team, two of the most demanding rooms in the sport. Inside PFL he is one of the most complete grapplers at featherweight, and his championship run put him among the best in the division. He remains one of the highest ranked featherweights on the roster.

Khizriev came to combat sports through wrestling at a young age and went on to become a two time Russian Wushu champion before committing fully to mixed martial arts. He is also a Sanda practitioner, a base that shows in how comfortably he closes distance and works inside the clinch. He competed across Russian organizations including Absolute Championship Berkut, Fight Nights Global and Eagle Fighting Championship, and he won the ACB featherweight grand prix along the way. He then moved to Bellator, where he went unbeaten before joining PFL and moving straight into title contention. His approach is control based, chaining takedown entries into long stretches of top position where pressure and positional dominance do the damage. Opponents who cannot stop the first takedown rarely get the fight back to open space. He fights from an orthodox stance and rarely strays from the plan that has kept him unbeaten.

Khizriev wins by making the fight happen where he chooses and then refusing to give the position back. He mixes level changes with clinch entries, and once he locks a body lock he is difficult to shake loose. He won the PFL featherweight world championship by outworking former champion Brendan Loughnane across five rounds, a performance that proved his control holds up against the division's best. He has beaten Enrique Barzola and Brett Johns inside PFL as well, working through the division from his first appearance to a championship. He has also finished fights by knockout and by submission, so the grappling is a preference rather than a limitation. His career was interrupted by something no fighter trains for. He was shot and wounded in an attack in Makhachkala, and the road back ran through surgery and a long rehabilitation. He comes back with his unbeaten record intact and a title still in reach.