Huseyn Aliev didn’t always know his life’s path would lead him to be known as the “Azeri Warrior.” “Surprisingly, I didn’t start actually with martial arts,” Aliev told MMA Junkie through an interpreter. “I started with soccer, and I was a soccer player, and eventually I found my way to MMA because I loved it. Slowly, slowly I got involved in mixed martial arts.” Once the passion caught fire, though, Aliev went all in. Hailing from Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic that has yet to send an athlete to the UFC, Aliev decided he was going to be the one to take that honor.