Umar Nurmagomedov got back on track with a win at UFC 321 but nothing came easy as Mario Bautista tested him at every turn across all three rounds.
It was a wrestling heavy performance from Nurmagomedov
as he repeatedly scored takedowns and maintained control, although Bautista kept finding new way to scramble free. Unfortunately, Bautista just couldn’t mount enough offense outside of a knee that put Nurmagomedov down briefly in the second round.
In the end, Nurmagomedov’s suffocating grappling got the job done with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 in his favor.
“To be honest I underestimated him a little bit,” Nurmagomedov said after his win. “He was tough, good defense. Today, I understand I’m an amateur in this game. I always try to do like [Khabib Nurmagomedov] but I can’t.
“Merab Dvalishvili-Petr Yan, believe me, I will be ready, 100 times better than today. I will come to take this belt. It doesn’t matter who it’s going to be. I will become champion.”
Nurmagomedov countered an early body kick from Bautista by grabbing the body lock and tossing him to the ground. Bautista countered by snatching a nasty toe hold as he torqued Nurmagomedov’s ankle in a nasty position but he eventually lost the submission.
From there, Nurmagomedov got back on top with Bautista scrambling and maintaining his defense to prevent taking too much damage. Nurmagomedov eventually advanced to take the back where he locked on the body triangle as Bautista was fending off submission attempts.
At the start of round two, Bautista cracked Nurmagomedov with a vicious knee that dropped the Russian briefly before returning to his feet. Nurmagomedov recovered rather quickly and snatched another takedown to bring Bautista back to the floor again.
Once again, Nurmagomedov got to the back, locked on the body triangle and started looking for the choke again but Bautista finally scrambled free. It was short lived success, however, as Nurmagomedov countered another kick to get the fight back to the ground again.
When the fight finally got back to the feet, Nurmagomedov unleashed his best striking with a couple of stiff jabs and a slick kick that caught Bautista off guard.
While Nurmaogmedov seemed a little more comfortable on his feet in the third, he eventually turned back to his grappling to hold onto Bautista and slow him down. As much as Bautista found a way to break free from Nurmagomedov’s grip, he just kept finding himself back in that same position again and again.
Racking up 10 takedowns across three rounds led Nurmagomedov to victory as he returned to form following the first loss of his career when he dropped a decision to Merab Dvalishvili back in January. Now Nurmagomedov has once again inserted himself into the title talk conversation with an impressive showing on Saturday.
