“Show the World”: Khabib Nurmagomedov Honors Usman’s Successful Title Defense with Heartfelt Message

Allan Binoy | 26/01/2025
Khabib Nurmagomedov (L), Usman Nurmagomedov (R)

Following Usman Nurmagomedov’s hard-fought title defense against Paul Hughes, Khabib Nurmagomedov took to Instagram to honor his cousin’s resilience and success. Khabib believes that Usman’s journey in the sport had just begun and there was a lot of mixed martial arts left in him.

The PFL (Bellator) lightweight champion had promised to win the bout for his brother Umar and his team after a shocking setback for the family at UFC 311. And he delivered in spectacular fashion. Despite being pushed to the limit by Hughes, Usman held his own and scratched and clawed his way to another title defense.

Khabib’s message reflected the pride and respect he holds for Usman’s journey.

“Congratulations Brother @usman_nurmagomedov on another successful title defense. You have done a great job in the big arena over the past couple of years…You’re going to show the world a lot of mixed martial arts.”

With this victory, Usman has completed four successful lightweight title defenses at Bellator. However, his opponent of the night is not done with him yet.

Hughes calls for a rematch against Usman

Hughes arguably gave Usman the fight of his life. His striking, power, and takedown defense, made the champion rethink his tactics mid-fight. To be able to force a dominant champion into doing that, especially during your first shot at the title, is an incredible achievement in itself.

Even Usman, visibly as impressed as he was broken, told Hughes that he was wrong to have underestimated him.

“Paul Hughes, brother, you are the man, brother. You’re really the man. Brother, you are tough. Honestly, I underestimated this guy. Whew. It was my little mistake…”

However, it is no consolation for Hughes. The Irishman, heartbroken during his post-fight interview, expressed disappointment at missing his chance to claim the title.

Asserting his belief that he had done enough to claw a win out of the dogfight, Hughes claimed that Usman was going to face him again.

“I’m so gutted, I’m so disappointed. I really thought I won that one. I should have pushed harder. Next time, I know we’re going to fight again, there’s no question…I need to give everything next time, and I will.”

Decision wins, especially for fierce fights like these, are never going to please everyone. So, the best way to resolve this would be to let the two duke it out again in the future and hope for a finish.

Post Edited By: Dhruv Rupani
Khabib Nurmagomedov Paul Hughes Usman Nurmagomedov

About the author

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Allan Binoy

Allan Binoy is a MMA journalist at The SportsRush. Taken to the sport in 2015, thanks to a certain Conor McGregor, Allan has himself dabbled in the martial arts. And having graduated from Loyola College, Chennai, with a degree in English Literature, he has learnt to use his love for language to have a voice in the MMA community. Allan has been writing about the gladiatorial stories for more than three years now and has pursued excellence at a number of reputable media organizations, covering every UFC PPV in the last couple of years. In addition to this, the southpaw is also a semi-professional soccer player for Diego Juniors FC in Pune, playing in the Pune Super Division League.

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