Umar eyes title shot after emphatic win at UFC Abu Dhabi

Umar Nurmagomedov remained undefeated with a unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi to make a pitch for a bantamweight title shot.

Umar, ranked No. 10 and a cousin of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, outperformed No. 2 Cory in striking and grappling across the five rounds in the octagon at the Etihad Arena.

Buoyed by legions of fans and Khabib in his corner, 28-year-old Umar secured 50-45, 49-46, and 49-46 judges’ decision over 32-year-old American, who delivered a strong performance.

“He (Cory) was tougher than I expected. He was like iron. I feel I beat him in every single round. I tried to take him down, but he has a good defence,” Umar said after the fight.

The Dagestani picked up pace in the final two rounds with effective striking and takedowns.

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“I’m not happy. It was a good performance on the striking, but if you are talking about grappling, and how I control him, it was not good. I accept I was doing great. I thought I would maul him on the ground, but he was tough,” Umar said and revealed that after three rounds, Khabib told him not to show any weakness and give it all in the final two ‘championship’ rounds.

After a dominating performance, Umar, on an 18-fight winning streak, staked his claim for a title shot against the winner of champion Sean O’Malley and No.1 Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 on September 15.

“Title shot. I don’t worry who’s going to win between the two. It doesn’t matter to me who’s going to be next. Just give me a title shot. O’Malley, Merab, or someone else, it doesn’t matter. I’m here. Now guys, talk about how I beat nobody. Cory is world No 2. Now you can cry, I’m coming for you.”

Umar noted he plans to attend the O’Malley-Dvalishvili UFC 306 main event at the Sphere in Las Vegas but refused to pick a person he wished to fight with among the two.

“Yes, I am planning to go to the fight, but I don’t want to name one or the other guy. I will be happy to fight both of them. The goal is to fight the winner.”

Meanwhile, there was more action in the bantamweight division with No. 6 Deiveson Figueiredo thumping No. 4 Marlon Vera. Asked if he would fight Figueiredo at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi on October 26, Umar noted: “It will be an interesting fight. If UFC says we must fight, I will consider fighting him [Figueiredo].”

Meanwhile, UAE fighter Mohammad Yahya wasn’t lucky in his second attempt to find a win after being floored by Brazilian Kaue Fernandes in the first round with a volley of kicks and knockout strikes in the lightweight category fight.

Kaue Fernandes beats Mohammad Yahya (TKO)

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