Usman Nurmagomedov wants to emulate the most famous victory of his cousin Khabib's legendary career on Saturday evening.
When the legendary UFC champion defeated Conor McGregor in 2018, his cousin was only 20 years old and had just made his professional MMA debut. He watched as Khabib became embroiled in one of the most bitter feuds ever with the Irishman, before winning by submission when they fought.
Now he gets his own chance at a career feud when he takes on Ireland's Paul Hughes on Saturday night in the final defense of his PFL title. The pair are not nearly as bitter rivals as Khabib and McGregor, but the needle was noticeable as they prepared for fight night in Dubai.
Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes is starting to get personal
During the build-up to a fight billed as 'Ireland vs. Dagestan 2', it seemed almost laughable that there were any similarities between this fight and the infamous UFC 229 main event. At one point, Usman Nurmagomedov even commented that he was starting to like Hughes during joint media appearances.
However, things have changed this week as the couple's trash talk boils over. They faced the Burj Khalifa to launch fight week, and the Russian offered his rival to fight there and then in the streets.
“It's not personal, but we're just promoting this fight,” Nurmagomedov told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat. “He tried to talk about 'a few days' or something like that and I said 'if you want we can do it every day'.
'Even there, when we faced each other, I wanted it. He started saying, 'Saturday, we'll see' or something like that. But where I come from, when someone calls you to fight, you don't wait four days. If he said 'let's go' I would smash his face right there.”
This clearly irritated Hughes, who claims it goes beyond the realm of fight promotion to try to derail a street fight photo opp. The pair are both making big wallets that could be affected by any kind of contact before the fight itself.
“To me, he just seems a little shell-shocked,” Hughes told Bloody Elbow. “I'm there as my usual calm calm self and he basically offered me that we could go here, like let's do it and I mean what the fuck is he talking about? I mean, that to me is clearly an emotionally irrational response.
“And you know, like I said to him, 'you're looking past me' and he says, 'who are you?' I said, “Exactly.” And that is his problem, and in my opinion that will be the test for him on Saturday evening.”
Usman Nurmagomedov is looking to match Khabib Nurmagomedov's biggest win
Both men have clear memories of where they were when the first Ireland v Dagestan match took place. Hughes was in Australia, reeling from the news that his career may be over after an impressive professional debut due to a broken hand.
“I think I was living in Sydney, Australia at the time,” Hughes remembers. “I just remember the energy around it and how excited people were for it. I mean, Ireland vs. Dagestan number one was the biggest event in MMA history.
Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
“We're not quite there yet with Ireland versus Dagestan number two, but I'll tell you where we're making a good impression.”
Usman seemed a little less reflective that night, but left a chilling warning as he vowed to score an equally devastating victory. He is not quite the favorite that his cousin was at the time, but he is believed to be the most likely winner of the evening.
“The first time we all see what happened,” he noted stoically. “The second time nothing changes.”
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