UFC: Umar Nurmagomedov ‘did it better than Khabib’ with slick debut win by rear-naked choke
- Umar – cousin of retired Dagestani lightweight champ – puts Sergey Morozov to sleep on promotional debut at UFC Fight Island 8
- ‘Nine years ago this day I beat my opponent with this choke, but I did in third round, he did in second,’ says Khabib, who was also debuting in 2012 fight
Umar Nurmagomedov walked to the Octagon for his UFC debut in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night wearing a sheep skin wool Papakha hat, a trademark accessory of his Dagestani cousin.
But this was no Khabib Nurmagomedov tribute act.
With the retired UFC lightweight champ in his corner, the 24-year-old Umar submitted Sergey Morozov at 3:39 of round two on the UFC Fight Island 8 prelims, to stay perfect at 13-0 and officially announce himself as a threat to the bantamweight division.
“Happy,” was the only word he could muster through heavy breaths in response to UFC analyst Daniel Cormier’s first post-fight question. But Khabib (29-0) translated his answer next time around.
“He talk about me, nine years ago this day, January 20, 2012, I beat my opponent like this, with this choke, and today he did this. But I did in third round, he did in second round, you know,” Khabib said. Indeed, “The Eagle” submitted Kamal Shalorus at 2:08 of the final round at UFC on Fox 1, also on his promotional debut.