On the evening of September 8, at the Bellator Champions Series tournament, Usman Nurmagomedov successfully defended the organization’s lightweight champion title, defeating his compatriot Alexander Shabliy.
On paper, this fight was considered the most difficult for Usman under the auspices of Bellator, as Chabliy is a top-level fighter who has not lost since 2016, who also has excellent striking technique and solid wrestling defense. Such a test was supposed to finally give an answer about Nurmagomedov’s level – victories over Patricky Freire and Brent Primus were not enough to form a complete opinion about Khabib’s brother.
Usman calmly passed the dangerous test:
A worthy successor to Khabib. Usman dismantled Shabliya without a chance
In fact, Usman did his best to make this fight, like all the previous ones, look like a piece of cake for the champion. Nurmagomedov worked well from a distance, constantly moving and breaking the rhythm of the fight, preventing Chablius from getting close and finally using his strongest side: boxing. Yes, from the outside it looked boring, but this often happens when the stakes are high and two very high-level fighters fight each other. Tactical chess in a cage is not spectacular, but it is effective.
Chablius did not become a bad athlete overnight, he is still a solid top, it just so happened that the difference in levels was more significant than expected. Nurmagomedov confidently outplayed Alexander, came out of the fight unscathed and still did not lose a single round to any opponent. In this sense, Usman is very close to his star brother – he takes fights without any chance, and every opponent who passes before the eyes of some fans turns into a weak athlete whose level cannot be assessed. The only thing left to deal with in Bellator is AJ McKee.
Khabib and Usman Nurmagomedov
Photo: From Usman Nurmagomedov’s personal archive.
After defeating Chablius, Khabib spoke out: “Usman is now one of the best in the world. First I was at the top, now our brother Islam is there and Usman will be next. This is a dynasty, people will talk about it for many, many years without even understanding what it is.”
Not long ago, Usman said that he had only two fights left on his contract with Bellator. One of them, therefore, has already passed, which means that Nurmagomedov plans to make another defense of the belt, and then, most likely, the next step will be taken. Usman has now passed the main test that he was able to take in Bellator and has proven that he is ready for the UFC. And this is already the peak.
It is no secret that Khabib’s team is counting on such a development of events. It is possible that next year we will see another Nurmagomedov under the auspices of the best promotion in the world. At that time, Islam Makhachev, who currently heads the lightweight division, will have to sort out all his affairs in the division and, in an ideal scenario, move up to welterweight. Then Usman will have to take his place.
As for the current Bellator UFC champion’s prospects, he has all the data to take the belt in the most prestigious organization in MMA. Usman feels confident in his stance, is good at wrestling (and if necessary, he would use it more often in the fight with Chablius) and has not even reached his peak yet. Nurmagomedov is only 26 years old. Makhachev, for example, became UFC champion five days before his 31st birthday. Habib was 30 years old. And yet, they did not have a history of dominating Bellator, which remains one of the best promotions in the world.
Most likely, Makhachev is the only one who is now obviously stronger than the young Nurmagomedov, but everyone knows that they will never cross paths in the octagon. The current Bellator champion can easily cope with all the other current tops.
Usman is just gaining momentum. Of course, there is already a base of enemies who rate his prospects low, but this is unlikely to bother Nurmagomedov himself. After all, Chablius was also crowned and that was considered an impossible test for Usman. The dynasty of champions started by Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov continues to destroy everyone. This is at least interesting to watch.
