The year started with a 1-1 in terms of wins and losses for Team Khabib. Islam Makhachev defended his lightweight belt for the fourth time, while Umar Nurmagomedov failed to capture the lightweight belt, at UFC 311. What’s worse? ‘Young Eagle’ was beaten dominantly over five rounds, unable to mount a meaningful offense at the relentless Merab Dvalishvili. It was a tough pill to swallow for fans of Team Khabib who were sure of ‘Young Eagle’ stopping ‘The Machine’ in his tracks. But now, that bout is in the past, and lessons have been learned. So what’s next for Umar Nurmagomedov?
While talking to the Russian Sports Journalist Adam Zubayraev, Khabib Nurmagomedov spoke about a possible clash between Petr Yan against the younger Nurmagomedov and said: “I’d definitely watch this fight with great interest.”, teasing us about what could be a big fight for the UFC, considering the amount of interest the community has shown towards it.
As both Umar Nurmagomedov and Petr Yan currently do not have a fight scheduled for any event in the foreseeable future, ‘The Eagle’ laid down the only condition for a possible clash between the second and third-ranked challengers of the division. Khabib revealed his only condition for Yan to be able to fight Umar, he said: “But Umar can only fight in October. If Petr wants to wait until October? Maybe, yes, he can wait. If he wants to fight in July, then that’s up to him. There’s no principle here like ‘it has to be Petr.’ Not for me personally. As for them, I don’t know, because their names are Umar and Petr. Mine’s a bit different.”
Petr Yan is coming off an incredible victory over the dangerous Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Fight Night 248 in Macau, last year in November. This win marked his second since recovering from a three-fight losing streak that had many writing off the Russian since he lost his belt to Aljamain Sterling. With two victories over two incredibly dangerous opponents (the other being Song Yadong at UFC 299), ‘No Mercy’ looks rejuvenated and ready to wreak havoc in the bantamweight division.
While Khabib did speculate a great match-up at bantamweight and put down his conditions, the champion of the division, Merab Dvalishvili, made ‘The Eagle’ swallow a tough pill. We all remember the beating that Umar Nurmagomedov received from Merab Dvalishvili when they fought at UFC 311; the big brother, too, had to relive that memory to envision his younger brother’s future.
Will Merab Dvalishvili continue his reign of terror? Or will Umar Nurmagomedov pose a new threat in a rematch?
As Umar Nurmagomedov and his team have their eyes set on a future UFC bantamweight title fight, coach Khabib remembered Merab Dvalishvili’s dominant performance, too. We know ‘The Eagle’ for his sportsmanship, and that is what he showed as he talked about Umar’s next potential title shot. Reminding the world of Dvalishvili, he talked about ‘The Machine’ dominating not only Umar but also his next potential rival, Petr Yan.
“But it feels like it should be a title fight only, right? Well that would be the cherry on top. That would be ideal, of course, but you see, they both lost to Merab. And now Merab will be fighting Sean O’Malley, I think that fight makes sense. I would watch that fight” As we can see, Khabib remains hesitant over a fight between the two Russians without a belt on the line. With a huge crowd backing this fight as both opponents hail from Russia, Khabib envisions the fight with the highest stakes possible.
Not only Yan and Umar but even Dvalishvili’s opponent at UFC 316, Sean O’Malley has lost to The Machine before. With all that being said, Dvalishvili remains the biggest challenge for the UFC bantamweight division, an unusual spot for Team Khabib as they dreamed of Umar on Dvalishvili’s throne. Khabib will not slow down until Umar beats Dvalishvili, The Eagle wants his brother to get revenge on the man who broke his undefeated streak. With Umar and Yan preparing for their fight, and O’Malley preparing to beat Dvalishvili, who do you think will be the last man standing? Let us know in the comments.
The post Petr Yan Gets 1 Condition From Khabib for Umar Nurmagomedov Fight as UFC Legend Forced to Swallow Tough Pill appeared first on EssentiallySports.
