Umar Nurmagomedov is back in the win column and back in the title picture, but one mistake almost cost him his fight.
In a pivotal bantamweight contest at UFC 321 on Saturday, Nurmagomedov won a unanimous decision over Mario Bautista, utilizing his wrestling to neutralize Bautista for much of the contest. However, seconds into Round 2, Nurmagomedov changed levels and ducked right into a Bautista knee. The strike put Nurmagomedov on his backside, but he recovered and went on to dominate much of frame with his grappling.
At the evening’s post-fight press conference, Nurmagomedov was asked about the knockdown and what he has to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“I will work a lot,” Nurmagomedov said. “I have this big mistake. I always go down, I do it a lot of times. Even in the gym, coach Khabib all the time he talks to me, ‘Don’t do this. You have to fix this’ and today I paid for it. We’re not perfect, right? But we will try to become.”
‘Coach Khabib,’ of course, refers to the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, Umar’s cousin and coach. Khabib reigned as UFC lighweight champion from 2018 up to his retirement in 2020, walking away from competition with a 29-0 pro record. Mistakes were few and far between for Khabib in his prime.
According to Umar, Khabib was encouraging after the fight, but stern.
“He said, ‘Good job,’” Nurmagomedov said. “He said, ‘We win,’ and he said to me, ‘We have a lot of things that we can show, you have space to grow up. Today we’re done, but we’re not finished.’”
Nurmagomedov is eyeing a title shot after failing to wrest the bantamweight championship from Merab Dvalishvili this past January. The Bautista fight was Nurmagomedov’s since he lost his undefeated record to Dvalishvili, and Nurmagomedov’s goal was to stop Bautista’s eight-fight win streak and potentially earn a title fight rematch.
However, Dvalishvili is already booked to defend his belt for the fourth time this year against Petr Yan at UFC 323 on Dec. 6 and it’s unclear if he will maintain his hectic schedule in 2026. Nurmagomedov is available if Dvalishvili wants a quick turnaround, but is more concerned with competing again soon regardless of who the opponent is.
“Of course, I will be happy, I will be even thankful and we’ll see what’s next,” Nurmagomedov said. “If it’s not going to happen before Ramadan, if they give me another fight, maybe with [Deiveson] Figueiredo or Aiemann Zahabi, with anybody else, I’ll be happy to fight because today I become a little better in the cage because it’s an experience. Now, we need to spend a lot of time in the cage to feel there like it’s home. Feel confidence, feel arena, feel fans, I want to fight.
“I don’t have anything else, I just have sleep, eat, train, repeat.”
Nurmagomedov was asked if the version of himself that was victorious Saturday would have had a better chance of defeating Dvalishvili and he gave a measured response.
“This ‘what could have been’ or ‘what should have been’ I don’t live my life by that,” Nurmagomedov said via a Russian translator. “Because if anybody lives their life by what could have been, it stops them from moving forward and from growing. So instead of reminiscing on that, what I’d like to say is that if I do get the chance and there is going to be a rematch, I’m going to be ready and I’m going to show what I can do. I have to show with my actions, not with my words. Of course, I’ll be ready for that, I’ll have more time to prepare for it, and then you’ll see what I can do.
“Right now, I’m 29. It’s 29, 30, 31, you grow up, you get into your man strength so to speak, your bones get more dense, you find this strength in you, so I’m just getting stronger. So whoever it’s going to be, whenever there is a chance for me to fight next, they’ll see that I am already better than I was today.”
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