Umar Nurmagomedov has set a course for the top of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.
The undefeated Russian will put his perfect 15-0 record on the line
when he confronts former
Resurrection Fighting Alliance titleholder Raoni Barcelos in a
featured
UFC Fight Night 217 attraction on Saturday at the UFC Apex in
Las Vegas. Nurmagomedov has rattled off three consecutive
victories, two of them finishes, as a member of the UFC roster. He
last appeared at UFC on ESPN 38, where he outpointed Nathan Maness
to a unanimous decision across three rounds in their June 25
confrontation.
As Nurmagomedov makes final preparations for his upcoming clash
with Barcelos at 135 pounds, here are five things you might not
know about him:
1. The combat sports gene can be found in his DNA.
Nurmagomedov was born on March 1, 1996 in Kizilyurt, Russia—a city
of some 30,000 people situated a little more than 250 miles to the
northeast of Tbilisi, Georgia. Hailing from a region known for
fertile martial arts soil, he is the older brother of current
Bellator
MMA lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and the cousin of
former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
2. His skills brought him notoriety before he arrived on the
MMA scene.
The Dagestani grappler was a gold medalist at the World Combat
Sambo Federation World Championships in 2015. Nurmagomedov struck
gold in the 62-kilogram category. He made his professional mixed
martial arts debut the following year, submitting Rishat Kharisov
with a second-round guillotine choke under the
Fight
Nights Global banner.
3. He embraced being hunted.
Nurmagomedov laid claim to the inaugural Gorilla Fighting
Championship bantamweight crown with a unanimous decision over
Fatkhidin Sobirov on May 11, 2018. He successfully defended the
title on three subsequent occasions—he turned away Wagner Lima,
Taras Gryckiv and Braian Gonzalez, the latter two by
submission—before he signed with the UFC in 2020.
4. Preparation does not figure to be an issue for him.
The
Professional Fighters League