Ignoring Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Coach Reveals Toughest Challenge for Umar in UFC Bantamweight

The noted UFC bantamweight, Umar Nurmagomedov, finally got a fight booked for 2 March after a prolonged wait. Khabib’s cousin-brother had been pretty vocal about his divisional rivals ducking him. The UFC also had to sign an all-new fighter named Bekzat Almakhan, to face Umar. But his noted coach, Javier Mendez, recently implied on YouTube that he wanted #13-ranked Umar to become the very best. This is probably why he saw the famed Merab ‘The Machine’ Dvalishvili as Umar’s biggest challenge in the UFC’s bantamweight division.

The Georgian put out another show of his awesome in-octagon prowess at UFC 298. He might have lost the first round of his fight with the former UFC champ-champ, Henry Cejudo. But the insane amount of pressure he put from the second round onwards earned him a unanimous decision victory against ‘Triple C’.

In his interview with ‘The Schmo’, Mendez revealed that he has been watching Merab delivering superb performances for a long time.

After ‘The Schmo’s’ question about Umar’s toughest challenger at bantamweight, Mendez said:

“For me, Umar’s toughest challenge has been Merab. It’s been Merab from when I remember watching him. I said, ‘that’s gonna be the toughest challenger’ and he still is.”

But Umar currently holds the #13 rank in the UFC’s bantamweight division. Hence, even if he manages to continue winning, it will still take him quite some time to reach a position where Dana White and Co. can offer him ‘The Machine’ as a rival.

But it’s also pertinent to note that Mendez didn’t see a threat in either the current UFC bantamweight champ, Sean O’Malley, or the upcoming title challenger, Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera. The current situation indicates that Umar might meet his toughest UFC bantamweight challenger in a title fight as well.

Will Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov fight for the UFC bantamweight gold in the future?

Mendez may have adjudged Dvalishvili to be his disciple, Umar’s biggest threat at bantamweight. But it doesn’t mean that he is anywhere afraid of making Umar fight ‘The Machine’. His words later in the interview revealed that wanted Umar to take on this challenge even though it was a tough one. But Umar will probably have to climb up several ranks for this fight to happen.

On the other hand, ‘The Machine’ will probably be the next UFC bantamweight title challenger after the Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera encounter, scheduled for UFC 299. The Georgian’s awesome in-octagon prowess also implies that he packs enough to bag the UFC bantamweight gold.

Now, if Umar keeps chasing Dvalishvili, fate can make him meet his biggest threat inside the octagon, with the UFC bantamweight title on the line as well. But it won’t be wrong to say that fans will have to wait for a long time to witness this fight, if at all.

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• Khabib Nurmagomedov
• Marlon Vera
• Merab Dvalishvili
• Sean O'Malley
• Umar Nurmagomedov