CHICAGO – After his first win in 28 months, Murad Ramazanov gave credit to the standout team he trains with in Russia.

Dagestan’s Ramazanov (12-0) stayed unbeaten Friday when he submitted Laureano Staropoli (13-6) a little more than four minutes into their fight to open the 2024 PFL welterweight season. The win gave Ramazanov 6 points in the standings, leaving him in the ideal position heading into his second regular season fight.

After his win over Staropoli, who missed weight for the fight, Ramazanov said the team formerly led by Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who died in 2020, has helped shape him into a new PFL contender.

“I think when it comes to our school, it’s all thanks to the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov,” Ramazanov told MMA Junkie and other reporters through a translator after his win at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. “He was the one who put discipline behind everything, everybody in the gym. It’s all about strict discipline and sticking to your training process. We have respect for everybody who trains, and then obviously we work really hard.”

The team now is guided in large part by Khabib Nurmagomedov, a former UFC lightweight champion considered one of the pound-for-pound greats in MMA history.

Ramazanov hadn’t fought since a December 2022 no contest with Roberto Soldic under the ONE Championship banner and hadn’t won since a December 2021 victory for ONE. Now his 6 points in the welterweight standings trails only Don Madge, and only based on a tiebreaker because Madge had a faster finish.

Still, Ramazanov is in a great spot heading into his next fight, which will be in late June in Sioux Falls, S.D. He thinks the training he continues to get is what will put him over the top.

“I’ve been around other gyms in the U.S., other countries,” Ramazanov said. “It’s not that I say they’re any worse. Obviously, people train hard. But with us, it’s more about discipline. That’s very important. But I’m very happy to go to train with other gyms, and other people come to our gym and it’s all about love and respect and training together and improving.

“Now Khabib Nurmagomedov, he’s following the path of his father and he’s keeping up that discipline. We owe to him and his father the effort they put with us. It’s all about following a strict discipline program and keep winning. That’s how champions are being made.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2024, Week 3.