Javier Mendez has already picked a UFC debut opponent for Usman Nurmagomedov, and he picked the biggest personality at 155 pounds. The AKA head coach told MMA Junkie in Dubai that he’d love to see the unbeaten PFL champion walk into the Octagon for the first time across from Paddy Pimblett.
“I would love Paddy ‘The Baddy’ (Pimblett). I would love Paddy because I love that character that he is,” Mendez said. “He’s a great character. I think it would be a fun fight for the fans. I think if that was to happen, that’s great.”
That “if” is carrying real weight. Nurmagomedov (22-0) holds the PFL lightweight title and is in his negotiation period after fighting out his contract. He closed that deal with a knockout of Archie Colgan at PFL New York in July. Nothing with the UFC is signed.
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Mendez has a clear plan for what happens if the deal gets done. He thinks Nurmagomedov needs just one UFC win before he’s ready for gold, and he called an immediate title shot a bad idea, because even an undefeated fighter can get jittery under bright lights for the first time. A former interim title challenger with Pimblett’s following fits that one-fight runway well. A win buys Usman a title case. It also buys him a crowd that already knows who he just beat.
The coach didn’t pretend to be neutral about how his guy stacks up against the rest of the division.
“In my opinion, Usman matches well with every one of those guys, and he surpasses all of them because he’s better all the way around than all of them,” Mendez said. “And I’m being biased. If you want to think that, go ahead, but that’s my opinion.”
He carved out two exceptions. The first was Islam Makhachev, Usman’s teammate, who has moved up to welterweight. The second was Ilia Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC), whom Mendez rated the most dangerous lightweight for his fighter even though Topuria is coming off a title loss to Justin Gaethje.
“He’s by far the most dangerous one, and the one we’d have to really be careful with because he’s a beast,” Mendez said.
Mendez expects Topuria to return angry and sharp after time spent sitting on the loss, and he pushed back on anyone writing him off. He pointed to Topuria’s eyes getting busted up early against Gaethje, saying Topuria fought through something he wasn’t used to. Mendez also admitted he’s watched that fight eight times because the momentum kept swinging, which is more times than he has watched any other fight. He called it his favorite fight to watch as a fan.
“I’m thinking I might go nine times and watch that fight,” he added.
My take: Mendez is right about Pimblett, and the reason is commercial before it’s competitive. A 22-0 debutant needs a name that makes casual fans tune in. Paddy brings his whole audience to the arena, and Usman gets to introduce himself to all of them at once. If the Dagestani beats Pimblett convincingly, nobody needs a second warm-up fight to know who he is. If Paddy drags him into deep water, we learn something real about the PFL’s best lightweight. Either result works for the UFC. First, though, somebody has to get Nurmagomedov’s signature on a contract.
