Umar Nurmagomedov has gotten an intriguing callout in the aftermath of UFC Abu Dhabi.
The UFC was back on the road this past Saturday for a crucial “Fight Night” event. Reinier de Ridder outlasted former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker in a competitive five-round clash. Also featured on the card was Petr Yan, who avoided a letdown by defeating Marcus McGhee, and he may have punched his ticket to another title fight.
Then there’s Bryce Mitchell, who defeated Said Nurmagomedov in a bantamweight bout. During the UFC Abu Dhabi post-fight press conference, “Thug Nasty” was asked if a potential clash with Umar Nurmagomedov would intrigue him. Mitchell made his answer clear (via MMAJunkie).
“I think that would be a pretty damn good fight,” Mitchell said. “Hell, why not? I already fought one of them, let’s just fight all the Nurmagomedovs that there is.”
Mitchell went on to admit that fighting Said was no cakewalk, and he had to dig down deep to stay focused on the task at hand.
“I think that I have better cardio at ’35, and that was a really, really hard fight,” Mitchell said. “I think he was tired, too. He hurt me real bad in the first round, but I don’t even remember half of the first round. If you take away that one shot, maybe I wouldn’t be as jacked up as I am, I don’t know. But, it was a really, really hard fight. I wish it would have been more exciting for the fans, but I was just fighting for my life. I really was praying during the fight.”
Mitchell is hoping that his move down to 135 pounds will earn him long-term success. At featherweight, Mitchell scored wins over Dan Ige, Edson Barboza, and Andre Fili, but he was stopped by Ilia Topuria, Josh Emmett, and Jean Silva. While those are three tough names, Mitchell feels the cut down to bantamweight will continue to be beneficial.