#denis-nikitin

#denis-nikitin

I don't like this guy, because he disrespect me. My job is to fight. Whoever the UFC gives me, I will fight. UFC gives me [Umar], I will fight. Wrestling is for fun. I'll never do fun matchup against this guy. Because it's not fun for me, it's real.

Makhachev's cryptic response to a photo of Morales and Topuria, featuring a telephone emoji, hints at a potential matchup with one of them next.

With a perfect 11-0 record that includes eight finishes, and the chance to fight in his hometown at The O2 Arena, Pinto has all the motivation in the world to go out and deliver a big performance on Saturday night as he plans to do two things: make himself happy with his performance, and issue a warning to the heavyweight division that a talented new threat is on his way.

But it's not there anymore, that's why I forgot about what it's called. And then after that, I was so eager and so hungry to come back to the winning column that I bolted into these two matches, I bolted into these two fights. And I think I lost not specifically because of lack of skills or not knowing how to crack these opponents, but because mentally I wasn't in the right place.

This everything is from my uncle Abdulmanap. My father pushed us into sports, but he didn't have any plans that we'd be champions. But my uncle Abdulmanap, he believed in us. He always came to my father and told him, 'Hey, I see your boys have big potential. Be careful with them.' Today, uncle Abdulmanap is not with us, but his son keeps doing his job with us.

While Nurmagomedov has downplayed it, there is no doubt that this fight is slightly more personal for him and his team. Davis won the 2025 World Tournament and did so by besting the defending champion and fellow member of the Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov school: Gadzhi Rabadanov. While Nurmagomedov has downplayed how much extra incentive he feels to avenge his teammate, there's no question the two have a natural friction going into the fight.

Kamaru Usman has never shared the mat with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev despite being close friends with them. Usman is currently rallying for a welterweight title fight against Makhachev. Many believe the matchup is being plotted by their common manager, Ali Abdelaziz. Courtesy of Abdelaziz, Usman is a close friend of Makhachev and his mentor, Nurmagomedov. However, "The Nigerian Nightmare" surprisingly revealed that he never had the opportunity of training with either Makhachev or Nurmagomedov.

"The GOAT for me is Khabib, and I would put Jon Jones in that category, but I can't," Mendez said on the Ahmed Mahmood show. "If you're caught doing something you shouldn't have been doing, how can you be considered at the top of the league? This is a true sport, and in a true sport you cannot put that person ahead.

"We were pretty surprised by the timing of the fight, but knowing it's next to his country made it clearer why they wanted him to fight there," BSD said during the card's media day this week. "I had already in my mind put the switch back on, because BSD and Dan Hooker, you need no promotion. It's gonna be a scrap."