Nurmagomedov will meet Max Holloway for the lightweight crown in the UFC 223 headliner (now available on Amazon Prime) on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he hopes to fill the void left by absentee champion Conor McGregor. The undefeated Dagastani brute last competed at UFC 219 in December, when he cruised to a three-round unanimous decision over former Ring of Combat titleholder Edson Barboza. The win moved Nurmagomedov to 9-0 in the UFC.
As “The Eagle” approaches his five-round showdown with Holloway, here are five things you might not know about him:
1. Injuries, inactivity and issues with weight have dampened some of the enthusiasm around him.
Nurmagomedov has not fought more than three times in a calendar year since 2011, and recurring knee injuries once kept him out of the cage for more than two full years. While he reportedly walks around at more than 190 pounds, Nurmagomedov has failed to meet the lightweight threshold on two different occasions. In addition, his UFC 209 clash with Tony Ferguson was cancelled due to a failed weight cut, costing him a shot at the interim lightweight championship.
2. He has also excelled outside the cage.
Nurmagomedov is a two-time Combat Sambo World Championships gold medalist, winning the 2009 event in Kiev, Ukraine, before doing so a second time a year later in Moscow.
3. He knows where his bread is buttered.
Training out of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, Nurmagomedov ranks fourth on the UFC’s all-time list among lightweights with 41 takedowns. According to FightMetric, he trails only Gleison Tibau (84), Clay Guida (50) and Frankie Edgar (42) in the category. Moreover, Nurmagomedov set a single-fight UFC record when he recorded 21 of them in his three-round encounter with Abel Trujillo at UFC 160 on May 25, 2013.
4. Staggering striking differentials can be traced to his suffocating top game.
In his nine UFC victories, all of them finishes or unanimous decisions, Nurmagomedov has outlanded his opponents by a 723-255 margin in total strikes. The 28-year-old has done the majority of his damage on the ground. Only Tibau -- who stopped all 13 of his attempted takedowns -- managed to outstrike Nurmagomedov, as he outpaced him 46-33 at UFC 148 on July 7, 2012 in Las Vegas. Despite Nurmagomedov sweeping the scorecards with 30-27 marks across the board, it remains his most competitive bout to date. In fact, all three members of the Sherdog.com judging panel sided with Tibau: 30-28, 30-27 and 30-27.
5. Submissions represent a significant part of his offensive repertoire.
Nurmagomedov has eight submission victories to his credit: four by triangle choke, two by kimura, one by armbar and one by rear-naked choke.
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