Khabib’s cousin chases history in world title fight

The undefeated Usman Nurmagomedov will hope to live up to his family’s proud combat sports tradition when he takes on Brazilian veteran Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire in his maiden lightweight world title fight at Bellator 288 at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena on Friday night.

Usman, the cousin of MMA icon and former UFC lightweight champion Khabib, has been picture perfect up to this point in his career, defeating all 15 of his opponents – with each of the last three not even lasting long enough to see the end of the first round.

But this is to be expected for a fighter with Usman’s combat pedigree. The Dagestani, who is just 24, has long been heralded as a future world champion, in part down to his upbringing where he was among the conveyor belt of talent to have been trained by his late uncle, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. 

But unlike Khabib, and even Islam Makhachev whose recent UFC title win Usman will look to mirror on Friday, Usman emerged from a different – but equally effective – combat sports lineage. 

His early forays into athletics saw him train in freestyle wrestling, like so many other who emerge from Dagestan, but Usman’s path diverged slightly afterwards and he poured hours into advancing his Thai boxing skills. 

Then after linking up with Abdulmanap and Eagle MMA, his wrestling was infused with sambo to forge a unique fighting style; one based upon aggressive striking but also a keen understanding of ground fighting. 

And now with Khabib having transitioned from world champion to coach, Usman says that the mixed martial arts legend doesn’t go easy in the gym – even on his own flesh and blood.

“You're training for two hours straight - constant training and training – and you can't stop. If [Khabib] sees you stop, he might even kick you out of the gym,” Usman said of his cousin to CBS Sports.

“He says, ‘If you want to rest, you can go home and rest there. Your mom can pour you tea and you can stay at home.’ If you want to train, you have to train at the gym.”

Usman, though, wouldn’t be human if he was fully immune to the ravages of pressure, especially when it comes to winning a world title.

It is sometimes said that an undefeated record can be a burden on a fighter, a weight which drags them down and doesn’t allow them to fully express themselves in the cage – the fear of losing eclipses the joy of winning. 

And with so much success from Khabib and his successor Islam Makhachev, Usman says that the training room overseen by his cousin leaves little to no margin for error. 

“To be honest, the situation in the gym is tense right now,” he admitted.

“Everybody wants to get better, everybody is hungry and everybody is learning every day. They're getting experience from the champions, from people who have already been through it. It's life. The elder [generation] are leaving and the new generation is coming.”

READ MORE: ‘Not fighting him... smashing him’ – Khabib cousin Usman on facing Bellator rival & McGregor training partner Queally

‘Pitbull’ promises to be the biggest test of Nurmagomedov’s career to date, and heads into the contest with a career record of 24 wins from 34 bouts. 

The Brazilian, 36, won the lightweight title by defeating Peter Queally by second-round TKO at Bellator 270 in Dublin one year ago.

Speaking to the media this week, however, Nurmagomedov said his name would be etched into the Bellator annals.

“There was a time nobody would sign fighters from the Caucasus. Nobody knew where Dagestan is, where this part of Russia is located. Now we have two champions from Dagestan in the UFC – past and present,” said Nurmagomedov.

“I want to be the first Bellator champion from Dagestan. Nobody will take this away from me. No matter what happens in the future, my name will be saved in the history books.”

MMA fans will find out on Friday night whether that prediction becomes reality.