Outside Source
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.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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