Usman Nurmagomedov has been one of the most dominant fighters in the PFL but much like his coach and cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov, there’s always going to be certain stylistic matchups that makes it look like he’s vulnerable.
Throughout Khabib’s illustrious career, the question always came up ‘what happens if he faces a dominant wrestler?’ The former UFC lightweight champion answered by putting together a perfect 29-0 record before retiring from the sport to focus on coaching.
Now it’s Usman’s turn to
provide his own answers as he takes on former college wrestler turned top lightweight contender Archie Colgan in his latest title defense. But don’t expect the reigning PFL lightweight king to show any fear going up against another wrestler in his latest title defense.
“He’s a little short, uncomfortable fighter,” Nurmagomedov said about Colgan when speaking to MMA Fighting. “He’s wrestling very well but I’m from Dagestsan. I can wrestle, I can grapple, I can do Muay Thai. I can do anything. Whatever he will compete with me, I am going to be better at. All respect for Archie and his team. He’s not going to win.
“I don’t think he’s going to take me down. This is very hard to take me down, to be honest. I know how I have to fight with little short guys. I always love to fight with the little short guys. I have a longer reach. I can control everything.”
While the wrestling question is going to come up often leading into this main event clash, Nurmagomedov is quick to point out that he’s not wrestling Colgan — they are fighting. Nurmagomedov is confident he can match Colgan anywhere on the feet or on the ground and if they want to settle the wrestling debate there’s another way that can happen.
“I think I’m going to grapple with him, too,” Nurmagomedov said. “I think I can take him down. My wrestling is not bad. We can do it like this. I’m going to beat him or knock him down, I know I’m going to beat this guy. For the people if they want to see who is better in the wrestling, we can do it in RAF.”
If anything, Nurmagomedov really hopes that Colgan can bring out the best in him because that’s what he always wants when he’s going out to defend his title.
“I think I have a big potential inside of me,” Nurmagomedov said. “I have very big ambitions. I just need somebody with who I can show this for the people.”
As far as the future goes, Nurmagomedov is undoubtedly going to be bombarded with questions about what comes next as he competes on Friday’s PFL card on the final fight of his contract.
There’s been heavy speculation that Nurmagomedov plans to leave PFL and sign with the UFC, especially now that his teammate and friend Islam Makhachev left the lightweight division to compete at welterweight instead.
Nurmagomedov hasn’t made any decisions yet and he’s doing his absolute best to shut out all the noise until after his fight.
He knows getting distracted is the perfect recipe for disaster if he’s not putting his full focus on Colgan and the fight directly ahead of him.
“Archie, he’s undefeated,” Nurmagomedov said. “You can’t stay like this for a long time [being undefeated] if you’re not in the top five. That’s why he’s the No. 1 contender and of course, he wants to take everything what I have.
“I don’t want to look ahead and thinking about the future for my career. I have a fight. I have a name. We’re going to fight. I have a fight and we have to do this.”
