Dan Ige ignored Khabib's advice, and now he's on a 6-fight winning streak
The first time the thought crossed his mind, Dan Ige was in high school without a clear vision of what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. And so as his classmates spoke about their dreams of becoming doctors and lawyers and nurses and computer programmers, Ige idly tossed out a thought that had been bouncing around in his mind.
He would, he said, go on to fight in the UFC and win a championship.
“To be honest with you, it started as kind of a joke,” said Ige, though it’s a joke no longer.
Ige is a mainstay in the UFC now, on a six-fight winning streak and destined for much bigger things if he defeats Calvin Kattar on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) in their bout on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
Ige is 14-2 and not only is he on a six-fight UFC winning streak, he’s won 12 of his last 13 bouts.
“No doubt about it, what he’s been doing absolutely has been very impressive, and people in this sport and in this division have noticed,” said Kattar, who is ranked No. 6 in the crowded featherweight division, with Ige at No. 10.
Ige has a smaller frame for the division and will give up four inches in height to the 5-foot-11 Kattar. Because of that, it’s been easy to overlook Ige. And there were times that Ige didn’t fully believe in himself.
But as he’s worked, as he’s trained alongside some of the best in the world, he’s made a believer out of himself and he’s begun to convince others. After defeating Edson Barboza on May 16 in Jacksonville, Florida, that should have quieted the skeptics.
It didn’t, of course, because it’s the nature of the sport. But Ige insists that he’s not even at his peak yet.
“With the momentum I have now, I’m just believing in myself more and more and more and more and the fire is just getting stronger and stronger,” Ige said. “I have so much in me and I haven’t shown what I’m capable of. I’m growing and getting better and I’m realizing this potential that I have. I really have the ability, I believe, to be the champion, and I know it’s right there for me. I feel I’m doing it right. It’s just literally a matter of time.”
MMA fighters have to be selfish, because so much is required of them to succeed at the highest level. But Ige is one of the most selfless men in the sport.
He’s working alongside Ali Abdelaziz of Dominance MMA as a manager and assists with Dominance’s large group of fighters. While he has his own career to think of, he’s constantly doing something for someone else and solving others’ problems.
Ige is humble and will quickly shower others with praise for how they’ve helped him advance in his career.
“It’s true that fighting is in some ways a selfish sport, but in many other ways, it’s a selfless sport,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to be willing to give. You have to be willing to give the shirt off your back if that is what’s required. You have to humble yourself a little bit, and I think that’s what makes me a great fighter.
“I have this willingness to help others because so much has come my way and I’ve learned so much from training with the best guys in the world. So it’s a kind of thing where I try to be available to sort of pay it forward and do what I can to foster an environment of learning and cooperation. I don’t want to be the guy who says, ‘Screw it. This is all about me,’ and then just take, take, take all the time. You have to give in order to be able to take and that’s set me up where I am today.”
Where he is today is on the verge of a huge leap forward. Kattar is also one of the elite in the division and has won three of his last four.
A win over Kattar would push Ige up at least several spots in the rankings, and get him closer to his goal of a featherweight title shot. That seemed improbable at one point to his good friend, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Ige and Nurmagomedov frequently train together, and Ige said the champion freely shares his advice.
“He praises me, but he also offers his criticisms,” Ige said.
One of the criticisms he had was that Ige was too small for the class. He kept urging Ige to drop to 135 pounds, a move that Ige resisted.
Now, the winner of six in a row and as hot as anyone in the division, even Nurmagomedov, the UFCs finest fighter, has finally come around.
“After my first loss in the UFC, and even after my first win, he was telling me, ‘You have to go to 135, brother,’” Ige said. “I said, ‘No, I don’t.’ I have to tell him. I feel strong. I feel good. I train with beasts who are strong and I more than hold my own. As I started winning more and more, he started becoming more impressed.
“Having him show me that kind of appreciation for what I do and that respect, it can’t help but build your confidence hearing it from the best guy in the world.”
Ige, too, is among the best even if it remains perhaps MMA’s most closely guarded secret.
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