Las Vegas — Umar Nurmagomedov did not get the fight he was expecting at UFC 324.
Paired up with former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo, Nurmagomedov first had his opponent miss weight for the bantamweight bout. Then, Figueiredo appeared reluctant to engage throughout the fight.
“I was expecting it was going to be more hard, and it was easier than my sparring partners,” Nurmagomedov (20-1) said following Saturday’s contest, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “Even then, Manel Kape gave me more hard times in the last months, and ‘Tiger,’ Magomed Magomedov.”
“I tried to do my best. I tried to fight like a killer, I tried to go ahead, but when you’re opponent’s not engaging, it’s a little hard to show a competitive fight.”
A somewhat dejected Nurmagomedov added that “my plan was to go in the cage and try to do everything to take [the] victory.”
Nurmagomedov did earn the decision victory, though the bout didn’t play out as anyone had hoped. As to why Figueiredo refused to engage, Nurmagomedov wasn’t sure.
“We’ll see what’s going to happen next. He’s a former champion, he’s a very tough guy. He’s not easy. I don’t know why he was not engaging. I really don’t know, but he’s a tough guy,” stated Nurmagomedov. “When I take him down, when he gets up, I feel everything, but I don’t know. Maybe he’s scared of tiring, maybe he’s not in shape, I really don’t know. We have what we have. We’ll see who’s going to be next.”
Umar Nurmagomedov, who won’t fight during the Muslim holy period of Ramadan, isn’t sure what comes next after the rather disappointing win over Figueiredo. Petr Yan appears to be waiting for a rematch with Merab Dvalishvili. Nurmagomedov suggested he was open to fighting the winner of Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong at UFC 324 (which turned out to be O’Malley).
Either way, “I just want to be active, I just want to fight,” stated the Dagestani. “I don’t want to be the guy to sit down and wait, ‘when are they gonna give me a chance?’ No, I’m going to come to take the chance, fight again for the title. And I want to take it.”
Watch the full UFC 324 post-fight press conference with Umar Nurmagomedov above.
