Fight Path: WSOF 5's Ozzy Dugulubgov says DNA geared toward battle

When Ozzy Dugulubgov moved to the U.S. from Russia about five years ago, he thought his given name might be asking too much of his new friends and neighbors.

“A-z-a-m-a-t,” Dugulubgov spelled out during an interview with MMAjunkie.com this week. “Not too much, but with my last name it can be a lot.”

So Dugulubgov adopted his new nickname, Ozzy, approximating how the beginning of his name is pronounced. It was indeed different for his new countrymen, especially those in close proximity at the gym where he trained (a main reason he moved to the country was the opportunity to train and work there).

But there was something that Dugulubgov didn’t change. His heritage, as a Circassian, a group of people who consider themselves the true natives of the area of Russia later conquered, remains very important to him. And, they have a special DNA geared toward battle.

“Our bedtime stories,” he said, “were of warriors.”

Now, Dugulubgov is one himself. The New Jersey resident has compiled a 4-1 professional MMA record and on Saturday faces Andrew Osborne (coincidentally also nicknamed Ozzy), who owns a 7-5 record, at World Series of Fighting 5 in Atlantic City, N.J. Their preliminary-card bout streams on MMAjunkie.com prior to the NBC Sports Network main card.

With three straight wins, Dugulubgov is building a career that started with taekwondo training with his father serving as his coach. He is also under the added pressure of caring for his two siblings, a 15-year-old brother and a 13-year-old sister, who both live with him while their parents remain in Russia.

Balancing that responsibility, Dugulubgov enters Saturday’s event – headlined by a matchup between Andrei Arlovski and Mike Kyle – carrying both his years of training in the U.S. as well as the heritage that helped him find fighting as a career.

“Growing up as a teenager, you had to protect yourself and you had to prove yourself,” he said. “We had to think of things as a warrior would.”

Continuing a tradition

Dugulubgov grew up in the North Caucasus region of Russia. It is the home of the Circassian people, which Dugulubgov compared with Native Americans in the U.S. as people who are native to a region.

The Circassian people have their own traditions and their own heritage separate from the wider Russian population, he said. A major part of that includes battle.

Because of that, Dugulubgov began martial arts from an early age. His father, who had been involved himself in training, was his coach, encouraging his son to both learn the technical aspects of taekwondo but also remember the mentality with which to use it.

“I learned to protect myself on the streets because that was something you couldn’t really escape,” he said.

Dugulubgov was also learning Russian Army Combat Training, which closely matched what he would later do in his MMA career. He started higher education and at one point had an opportunity to move to Moscow to continue his studies.

At the same time, some friends of his father were opening an MMA gym in New Jersey, so Dugulubgov was presented with the option of moving to the U.S. to train with them. He originally planned on the Moscow move, but he changed his mind and made his move to the U.S.

That was in 2008, and Dugulubgov immediately began working to improve his grappling and his ground game to build on his previous martial arts training. He knew it would take some time before he was ready for a career, but he was committed to it.

“A lot of people of my nationality live near here, so it felt more like a home,” he said. “That made it easier for me.”

A brother/father/mentor/fighter

When Dugulubgov accepted his first amateur fight, he wasn’t totally prepared for the differences between his training experience in Russia and the rules in the U.S.

In the training he had first started in Russia, when an opponent is taken to the ground, a fighter only has 15 seconds before the opponent must be allowed back up. So, he was trained to immediately begin striking as fast as people with an opponent on the ground.

When he started his first amateur fight, he quickly found out that was not allowed.

“I took this guy down, and he tried to set up to triangle me, so I hit him in the face as much as I could,” he said. “They stopped it and said I couldn’t do it, and it kind of got in my head. I had to learn quickly.”

He lost that debut by decision, but with an increased focus on grappling, he went 2-1 as an amateur and made his pro debut in May 2011. He lost his second fight in July 2011, which served to increase his passion for training and competing, sending him on a path to his current three-fight winning streak and a 4-1 record.

Meanwhile, he was dealing with family obligations. His younger brother moved in with him not long after he came to the U.S. The brother is now a high school wrestler in New Jersey and someone Dugulubgov believes could have a promising career as a fighter himself.

Earlier this year, his sister came to visit, and he felt she would also have a better opportunity living with him, so he convinced her to stay.

The situation adds its challenges as Dugulubgov arranges his training and fighting schedule, but it also serves to remind him that he has bigger reasons to fight than just his own personal gain, a mentality he’s taking with him into Saturday’s fight.

“I love them so much, and I can share everything with him because they support me,” he said. “They look up to me, and it helps me stay more focused.”

For more on WSOF 5, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel pens “Fight Path” each week. The column focuses on the circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.