Belal Muhammad expects Khabib Nurmagomedov to bring the best out Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 321.
Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) will look to rebound from his first career loss when he takes on streaking bantamweight Mario Bautista (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) on Saturday’s main card (Pay-per-view, FX/Disney+/ESPN+) at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Nurmagomedov is coming off a title loss to bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311 in January, a fight in which he won the first two rounds on a couple of the judges’ scorecards before Dvalishvili rallied to beat him. Muhammad, who spent his UFC 280 training camp with Nurmagomedov’s team, knows just how intense Khabib is as a coach.
“I know people say, ‘Oh, he broke his hand,’ and yeah, he did break his hand,” Muhammad said of Nurmagomedov on the “No Scripts Podcast.” “The level between both of them is just so close that you have to see a rematch, but he’s got to get past Bautista. It being in (Abu Dhabi) I think is going to play huge in his favor.
“He’s been out there doing his whole camp with Khabib being the main coach, and Khabib is like the craziest coach. He’s going to push him harder than he’s ever been pushed before. Especially coming off his first loss, Khabib’s not going to let him take a break. I think they got hyped because his brother just won – Usman (Nurmagomedov) just won (the PFL lightweight title). So I think he’s going to be in a good place mentally to get a win.”
Despite suffering his first loss, Nurmagomedov is still a heavy favorite to beat Bautista. According to FanDuel, Nurmagomedov is a -530 favorite to beat Bautista, who is a +360 underdog.
