Usman
Nurmagomedov believes his wrestling is different and better
than Arman
Tsarukyan’s.
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Nurmagomedov (17-0) is scheduled to defend his Bellator
MMA lightweight title against Alexandr
Shabliy at
Bellator Champions Series San Diego on Sept. 7 in Southern
California. Shabliy is training with No. 1
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight contender Tsarukyan
(22-3) for his upcoming fight against Nurmagomedov.
However, Nurmagomedov believes Tsarukyan doesn’t possess the
skillset to counter his wrestling. While both Nurmagomedov and
Tsarukyan started their combat sports journey with freestyle
wrestling, the Bellator lightweight champ later took up combat
sambo, like most fighters from his region of Dagestan.
Nurmagomedov claims his wrestling is on a different level than
Tsarukyan’s, which he deems one-dimensional. Nurmagomedov believes
he wouldn’t make the same mistakes that “Ahalkalakets” did in the
sophomore UFC loss of his career against Mateusz
Gamrot in 2022.
“I don’t think so [Tsarukyan can counter my wrestling]. Arman is a
freestyle wrestler but I don’t think so. It’s different,”
Nurmagomedov told Sport24 (translated by Redcorner MMA). “I’m much
taller than Arman. I have longer limbs, I do takedowns differently.
I’m not a freestyle wrestler. My wrestling is on a different level
and it’s way different from Arman’s. We saw Arman wrestle against
[Mateusz] Gamrot. I don’t make those mistakes. I don’t shoot for
one leg for 25 minutes.”
Nurmagomedov has finished 14 of his 17 career wins so far and is
coming off a unanimous decision win over Brent
Primus, which was overturned to a no-contest after the champ
tested positive for a banned substance.
Meanwhile, Tsarukyan has mounted a four-fight winning streak since
his loss to Gamrot, with a split-decision win over Charles
Oliveira at UFC 300 this past April. Tsarukyan is expected to
fight for the UFC lightweight title against Nurmagomedov’s teammate
Islam
Makhachev, who had foiled his promotional debut back in 2019.