Usman Nurmagomedov is defending his PFL lightweight belt tonight, but a former UFC lightweight champion thinks the Smart Cage standout could capture 155-pound gold in the UFC fairly quickly if he signs there. This was expressed by Frankie Edgar, who has been mentoring many fighters these days, and Usman Nurmagomedov recently was seen working at The Answer‘s space, Iron Army Academy.
As Usman Nurmagomedov prepares to defend his strap against Archie Colgan in the PFL New York headliner, much of the discourse is focused on this being the Dagestan combatant’s final bout on his current PFL contract, and many wonder if Nurmagomedov will transition to fighting in the UFC post-July 31st. As someone interwoven in the lineage of UFC lightweight champions, when asked for what he thinks Usman’s ceiling would be in the UFC lightweight division, Edgar said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, being where he’s from and knowing him and seeing him train, obviously I would think he’d be in line for a title fight rather quickly. He has the name, he has the record and accolades. Obviously coming being a PFL champ and defending it and whatnot. Yeah, he can come over and probably fight for a title, maybe after one or two fights.”
Usman Nurmagomedov’s MMA future gets discussed by a fellow PFL New York star
Usman Nurmagomedov’s subsequent path in the sport of mixed martial arts has many talking, including one of the co-main event fighters of that PFL New York card. Dakota Ditcheva commented on this discourse surrounding Nurmagomedov ahead of her penultimate fight of the night with ‘Dangerous’ returning after over a year away from action to take on explosive striker Denise Kielholtz.
In a separate Bowks Talking Bouts interview on where Nurmagomedov could possibly fight following his Colgan contest tonight, Ditcheva stated [via BJPenn.com],
“I don’t know. I think he has always been clear on like when Islam [Makhachev] gives his belt up and he’s finished that they’re going to bring Usman in now. So I think; well Khabib [Nurmagomedov] has his plans. They say father’s plan, don’t they? They know exactly what they’re doing. So I don’t know what’s going to happen, but they would have had this figured out for a long time. Just good luck to him wherever he goes. He’s a great athlete and a very exciting fighter.”
