Muhammad Naimov competed on the fourth season of Dana White’s Contender Series, taking a short notice fight against fellow Denver-area featherweight Collin Anglin where he battled hard, but landed on the wrong side of the results.
Five months later, he suffered a similar fate in a battle for the vacant Titan FC featherweight title. The loss to Anglin was the first of his career, and now, after a 5-0 start, he’d dropped consecutive contests and was questioning his future in the sport.
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“After two losses, I felt a little emotional — I was losing myself, losing my focus,” recalled Naimov, who returns to action this weekend against Erik Silva, searching for this third straight UFC victory.