Makhachev opens Makhachkala padel club, sparks franchise interest abroad

Islam Makhachev opened his padel club in Makhachkala with more than 50 million rubles of his own money, and the facility is already fully booked. The UFC lightweight champion said the total cost of the courts and related infrastructure reached about 60 million rubles, while franchise proposals have already arrived from Dubai and Uzbekistan.

The club sits in Dagestan’s capital, in the Caucasus region, and Makhachev said the project was never meant primarily as a profit-making venture. He said the money was put into building and maintaining the venue, not into chasing a quick return, and that the courts were already open and popular with local residents. One early test of demand came before the club was running at full speed, when he offered free play during a trial period and saw enough interest to move ahead.

The level of attention matters because it points to a wider frontier for padel. Russia’s scene has expanded quickly in recent years, with secondary reporting tracing the country from zero courts in 2012 to more than 560 by 2025. That growth gives Makhachev’s club a market behind it, but the franchise inquiries show something more specific: demand is spilling beyond Dagestan and into neighboring and Gulf markets that already understand athlete-driven sports brands.

Uzbekistan is a particularly telling signal. WePadel has reported three panoramic 360-degree courts in the country, evidence that infrastructure is already taking shape there. Add the franchise interest from Uzbekistan and Dubai, and Makhachev’s project starts to look less like a one-off celebrity side venture than a test case for how padel can spread through the Caucasus and Central Asia with the help of well-known fighters.

Makhachev said he intends to keep supporting padel as the sport grows. For now, the Makhachkala club is open, busy and attracting offers, with the next move likely to be measured not by publicity, but by whether the same demand can be repeated beyond one packed set of courts.