UFC 321’s Umar Nurmagomedov abandoning Khabib career aspirations for Georges St-Pierre’s path

Umar Nurmagomedov is set to fight Mario Bautista on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 321, which goes down this Saturday afternoon (Oct. 25, 2025) from Abu Dhabi, UAE. But he’s also fighting for the chance to rematch current bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, who beat him back at the start of the year.

Dvalishvili took their UFC 311 scrap via unanimous decision, earning 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47 scorecards from the judges. Nurmagomedov started out strong, but “The Machine” quickly took over the fight,

as he’s done twice since and plans to do for a fourth time in one year at UFC 323.

Nurmagomedov asked Dana White at the UFC 321 press conference for a title shot if he beats Bautista, and White said he’d get one with an impressive enough performance. Easier said than done against a grinder like Bautista, but Umar is confident in his abilities against Mario and Merab.

“I have fire, like for revenge, I think fire more than for the title,” Umar told TNT Sports. “Even my blood wants revenge, you know? And I hope it’s gonna happen.”

“I did work with coaches, mentally, everything, a lot,” he said of changes since his defeat. “I prepare for this fight, not like for regular fight. I prepare for this. It’s very important fight for me. I have to win. I have to win to keep working toward my dream.”

“The last fight happened, I broke my hand and things didn’t go how I expected. And even with broke hand, I thought I did very well. It was a close fight. My mistake in last fight was the last two minutes in the last two rounds. I gave him takedowns. It was a mistake, because of that I think the judges gave it to him. But the next time it’s gonna be very different fight. It’s gonna be not same, even not close to same.”

The loss to Merab cost Umar his perfect record, but he’s re-calibrated his career expectations.

“I was a little upset, of course, directly after fighting,” he said. “But I understand that MMA is not everything in life, and perfect record is not everything. I was expecting my career would be same like Khabib. I wanted to repeat his result. But there’s a lot of champions. For example, George St-Pierre. He lost a lot of time but he revenged everybody, and everybody recognize he one of the greatest.”

“I think my way is gonna be same with Islam [Makhachev]. More Islam. But whatever, I have to become a champion.”

Umar Nurmagomedov will get his chance to put his championship aspirations back on track in Abu Dhabi, where he’s a massive -650 favorite over +450 dog Mario Bautista. But will his performance be good enough to justify a second shot at Merab Dvalishvili’s belt?