Umar Nurmagomedov was back in the win column and back in the title picture, but one mistake almost cost him his life.
Nurmagomedov won a unanimous decision over Mario Bautista in a pivotal bantamweight contest at UFC 321 on Saturday, using his wrestling to neutralize Bautista for much of the bout. However, seconds into the second round, Nurmagomedov changed levels and crouched on Bautista’s knees. The blow put Nurmagomedov on the back foot, but he recovered and continued to dominate most of the frame with grapples.
In the post-fight press conference that night, Nurmagomedov was asked about the knockdown and what he must do to prevent it from happening again.
“I’m going to work a lot,” Nurmagomedov said. “I make big mistakes. I get down all the time and I do it over and over again. Coach Khabib is always telling me in the gym, ‘Don’t do this. You have to fix this.’ And today I paid for it. We’re not perfect, right? But we’re going to try to be perfect.”
“Coach Khabib” of course refers to Umar’s cousin and coach, the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov. Khabib reigned as the UFC lightweight champion from 2018 until his retirement in 2020, when he retired from competition with a professional record of 29-0. In his prime, Khabib made very few mistakes.
According to Umar, Khabib was encouraging but strict after the match.
“He said, ‘Well done,'” Nurmagomedov said. “He said, ‘We won.’ And he said to me, ‘We have a lot to show, you have room to grow. We’re done today, but we’re not done yet.’
Nurmagomedov is eyeing a title shot after failing to wrest the bantamweight title from Merab Dvalishvili in January. The Bautista fight was Nurmagomedov’s first since losing his undefeated record to Dvalishvili, and Nurmagomedov’s goal was to end Bautista’s eight-fight winning streak and potentially earn a title fight rematch.
However, Dvalishvili is already scheduled to defend his belt for the fourth time this year against Petr Yan at UFC 323 on December 6th, and it is unclear whether he will be able to maintain his busy schedule in 2026. If Dvalishvili wants a quick turnaround, Nurmagomedov is open to him, but he is concerned about a quick rematch with whoever his opponent is.
“Of course I will be happy, even grateful, and we will see what happens next,” Nurmagomedov said. “If they let me fight again, even if it doesn’t happen before Ramadan, I would be happy to fight, maybe against (Deiveson) Figueiredo or Ayeman Zahavi or someone else. Today was an experience and I got a little bit better in the cage. Now we need to spend a lot of time in the cage to feel like it’s home. Feeling confident, feeling the arena, feeling the fans, I want to fight.
“There’s nothing else. Just sleep, eat, train and repeat.”
Nurmagomedov was cautious when asked if the version of himself he won on Saturday was more likely to beat Dvalishvili.
“I don’t live my life based on ‘this is how it should have been’ or ‘this is how it should have been,'” Nurmagomedov said through a Russian interpreter. “Because if anyone lives their life according to what could have been, it stops them from moving forward and from growing. So instead of reminding myself of that, what I’m saying is that if the opportunity comes and there’s a rematch, I’ll be ready. It means I’m going to prepare and show what I can do. I have to show with actions, not words. Of course I’m ready for it, I’ll spend more time preparing for it, and then I’ll see what I can do.
“Right now, I’m 29 years old. When you’re 29, 30, 31, you grow up, you develop your strength as a person so to speak, your bones become denser, you find that strength within yourself, so I’m only going to get stronger. So whoever it is, whenever I get a chance to fight next, they’ll realize that I’m already better than I am today.”