Umar Nurmagomedov has been calling out Bantamweights for a very long time as nobody seemed to be willing o fight. FInally, Raoni Barcelos manned up and came forward to face the Bantamweight Prospect. With the next UFC: Fight Night coming up, Umar has now answered a lot of queries from the press.
To clarify his own condition going into the fight he said, “I’m feeling good. Just want to take one more shot, one more win. I hope I will finish him,”
As for his future plans he had this to say, “I’m ready for [when I] will be champion. I’m really ready for anybody in this world. Doesn’t matter which organization’s champion. I’m ready. I was training with very very tough guys, and they didn’t do nothing, you understand? And I think I’m ready.”
Nurmagomedov talked about his struggle to find opponents saying, “I try, I tried to call guys [out], but nobody don’t wanna take this fight with me. I talk with Sean Shelby, I was taking with him and he said ‘hey, I can’t find fight for you. When they asked me [if I would] fight with Barcelos, I said ‘yes. I don’t care with who.’ Even if somebody will be doing their debut, I will fight. I want to be active.”
Who can Umar Nurmagomedov fight next?
After Aljamain Sterling pulled out from his fight against Henry Cejudo, a lot of equations in the Bantamweight division are in shambles. But since the young Dagestani is currently not the biggest name in the title picture, it is fairly easy to search potential opponents for him.
Song Yadong has been a promising prospect for the 135lb division. While the last fight against Cory Sandhagen did not go to his favor, he can still maintain his relevance should he manage to beat a fresh blood like Umar.
Dominic Cruz has not been having the best time inside the Octagon so puting him against Nurmagomedov will probably not be the best move. Merab Dvalishvili will not fight for the title until Aljo is champion so he can be a good candidate to test what the Russian is really made of.
WHo do you think Umar should face next?
