Usman Nurmagomedov hasn’t signed a UFC contract yet, and the most talked-about thing he did this week happened at a media session. On Wednesday night, during his obligations for RAF Abu Dhabi, the undefeated PFL champion (22-0) slapped Merab Dvalishvili. The two sides then went at each other in a full brawl that ended with multiple arrests and prison sentences. Sean O’Malley watched all of it and came away with a matchmaking idea, which is about the most O’Malley reaction possible to an incident that put people behind bars.
The slap had history. Back in August, backstage at RAF Georgia, Dvalishvili slapped Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov, a friend of Umar Nurmagomedov. Wednesday was the return trip. Then Ilia Topuria jumped in and went after team Nurmagomedov, and O’Malley, speaking on his YouTube channel, connected the dots.
“Does this set up a fight between Ilia Topuria and Usman Nurmagomedov? That’s a crazy fight,” O’Malley said. “That’s a crazy, hard fight for Ilia to bounce back from. It’s an insane fight for Usman to jump into the UFC pool. It is a fight that I want to see.”
He’s right. I’d make that fight first, and I’d make it for reasons that have very little to do with who slapped whom.
Why Topuria Needs It
Topuria is 17-1 overall and 9-1 in the UFC, and that one UFC loss is fresh. Justin Gaethje took his lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250 in June, and Topuria is now eyeing an April return. A former champion coming off a loss has two options. He can take a safe rebound fight against someone ranked below him and wait in line, or he can take a fight that drags every eyeball back to him immediately. O’Malley framed it plainly, calling these “huge, massive, insane numbered main events that don’t have any titles on the line,” and he put Usman in the same tier as a Topuria fight with “Paddy.”
That’s the correct read on how fight cards get built for big names. No belt is required when both men bring their own audience, and an unbeaten free agent with the Nurmagomedov surname brings one.
Why Usman Should Want It
The usual UFC instinct with a high-profile signing is to ease him in. Give him a ranked opponent, let him get used to the cage and the schedule, then build. I’d skip all of it. A 22-0 record put together outside the UFC gets debated forever until it meets top UFC competition, and nobody wins that argument on a podcast. The fastest way to end it is to put him across from the guy who held the lightweight belt until June.
Even people in his corner seem to see it that way. Head coach Javier Mendez recently told MMA Junkie that Topuria would be the toughest test for Nurmagomedov in the UFC. When the coach names the hardest fight out loud, it’s worth asking whether you take the hardest fight first, while your opponent is coming off a loss and still sorting out his return.
The Five-Inch Question
This is where the matchup gets fun for me. O’Malley pointed out the size gap himself: “Ilia’s big, but he’s not tall. He’s 5-6, Usman’s probably 6-1.” O’Malley was guessing on Usman’s height, so take that number with some salt, but call it roughly five inches.
In plain English, height differences like that decide where the fight takes place. The taller man wants to live at the end of his punches and kicks, where he can hit and the shorter man can’t. The shorter man has to cross that dead space, absorb something on the way in, and do his damage once he’s inside. Every exchange becomes a negotiation over a few feet of canvas. Pay attention to the first round, specifically to who is moving forward after the first minute, because that usually tells you whose fight it is. O’Malley called it “a tough fight for both guys,” and that’s the honest version. Neither man gets to fight on his own terms for free.
The Part O’Malley Skips Past
Here’s my one disagreement. O’Malley thinks the brawl grows Usman’s UFC hype, and he finished with “The storyline’s there.” Sure. But he also wondered out loud whether the incident hurts Nurmagomedov’s chances of signing now that he’s a free agent, and that second thought deserves more weight than the first. Arrests and prison sentences don’t belong in a promo package. They’re paperwork the UFC has to look at before anyone talks about a debut date.
I’d also argue the fight doesn’t need the brawl at all. Undefeated free agent against a former champion with a five-inch height gap sells itself. The slap only adds a clip that’ll get replayed during fight week.
If the UFC gets Nurmagomedov signed this winter, Topuria’s April target is the obvious slot. Book it there, keep the two camps in separate hotels, and let the size gap settle the argument.
