Umar Nurmagomedov might have earned the most important win of his profession over Cory Sandhagen at UFC Abu Dhabi, however that doesn’t imply he’s glad together with his efficiency.
Regardless of successful at the least 4 rounds on each scorecard, the undefeated bantamweight was nonetheless important about some errors he made through the combat. Particularly, Nurmagomedov pointed to Sandhagen’s potential to close down his wrestling and grappling after ending simply 5 of 13 takedown makes an attempt. Whereas getting the victory was clearly most vital, Nurmagomedov nonetheless anticipated higher of himself.
“I’m not comfortable,” Nurmagomedov stated on the UFC Abu Dhabi post-fight press convention. “It was a superb efficiency on the hanging, however when you’re speaking about grappling and the way I managed him, it was not good.
“As a result of I [expected I would do that], I believed I’d maul him on the bottom, however he’s robust, he’s good. Cory’s too good and he has laborious kicks. He’s a troublesome man. I believe he has extra expertise than me within the UFC cage, however I received. However I’m comfortable, I received.”
Whereas Nurmagomedov might not have discovered as a lot success together with his grappling as he’s turn out to be accustomed to, he nonetheless stored Sandhagen guessing throughout all 5 rounds, which was nonetheless a weapon even when the takedowns weren’t occurring.
The bantamweight combat performed out in back-and-forth trend, notably via the primary three rounds, nevertheless it was throughout these last 10 minutes that Nurmagomedov actually took over.
It seems that occurred at the least partially due to the recommendation Nurmagomedov obtained from his cousin and head coach Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was working his nook for the combat.
“After the third spherical, Khabib cornered me and he [said], ‘Now’s the start of [the championship] rounds and it’s a must to be sturdy, don’t present weak spot,’” Nurmagomedov stated. “[Khabib said,] ‘It’s important to be sturdy. Go forward and take this victory, press him, push him, don’t lose any second.’”
Nurmagomedov took that recommendation to coronary heart as he pressed the tempo on Sandhagen and imposed his will throughout these last two rounds.
As a lot as the whole combat didn’t go away him feeling the perfect, the 28-year-old bantamweight contender can’t deny that his conditioning was an actual asset in his first UFC essential occasion.
“It’s a little bit bit troublesome however I didn’t [get] drained how he stated [I would],” Nurmagomedov stated. “You bear in mind how Cory stated I’ll get drained, he’ll choke me, and on the finish of the rounds, nothing occurring. I believe I used to be extra contemporary than him.”
With the win over Sandhagen, Nurmagomedov virtually actually cements himself because the No. 1 contender within the bantamweight division because the title goes up for grabs at UFC 306 when reigning champion Sean O’Malley takes on Merab Dvalishvili in the primary occasion.
Previously, Nurmagomedov acknowledged that he sees the matchup as a fair combat, and he’s not altering his opinion now, particularly realizing he actually simply desires the winner.
“I’m planning on going to the combat, however I don’t need to identify one man or the opposite man as a result of I don’t need the opposite man to suppose I’m making an attempt to keep away from preventing him,” Nurmagomedov stated. “So after all, I’d be very comfortable to combat each of them. The purpose is to combat the winner.”
Whereas Nurmagomedov anticipates a title shot for his subsequent combat, he’s not fairly as sure when requested about presumably making a fast turnaround to function the backup for O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili on Sept. 14.
So as to add to that, he extremely doubts Dvalishvili would simply abandon his title shot in a worst-case state of affairs if O’Malley is unable to compete at UFC 306.
“It’s solely a month away so it actually will depend on my well being,” Nurmagomedov stated. “Out of my 17 fights, I’ve by no means gotten as a lot injury as I acquired throughout this combat. It’s actually sort of quickly nevertheless it will depend on the well being. I don’t suppose any of them are going to fall out.
“It is a combat that Merab’s been ready for, for a extremely very long time, so even when it does occur that O’Malley pulls out, I believe Merab is simply going to attend for his title shot and look forward to O’Malley to get higher and combat him.”
