Being Khabib’s Cousin Is Hard! Umar Nurmagomedov Reveals Frustration Over ‘High Expectations’

A lot is expected off Umar Nurmagomedov in his journey at the UFC. And bearing a burden of having a famous last name doesn’t help. His cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s undefeated reign is for the legends. So, of course, Umar feels frustrated over the the bar that was already set for him long ago.

Now, Khabib and his team are looking to do something unprecedented. After ensuring an unprecedented domination over the UFC lightweight division for years, they are now looking at an expansion into the bantamweight class.

Enter Umar, #2 ranked UFC bantamweight fighter and cousin to ‘The Eagle’. Umar brother, Usman is already the Bellator lightweight champion. Islam Makhachev, who is basically a brother from another mother to the Nurmagomedovs, is already being called one of the best lightweights the company has ever seen.

Even Belal Muhammad, who’s been training with their camp for some time now, is the UFC welterweight champion, which brings us back to Umar. Right now, having defeated Cordy Sandhagen, Umar is almost at the peak of his division. All he has to do is win one fight against the formidable Merab Dvalishvili.

Now, that is some pressure, right? In a recent interview on the Pound 4 Pound podcast, he spoke about the pressure of being a Nurmagomedov,

“Khabib would maul everyone….People see a Nurmagomedov will fight and they think we’re gonna do the same. When we win, they say ahh it’s like regular fighter, he just win this”

Umar also spoke about how fans expect him to be as dominant as Khabib Nurmagomedov. So when they see him win via decision they think he is not living up to the name.

Unfortunately for the ‘Young Eagle’, his cousin set such a high standard to the game that they are now struggling to meet them. And with Dvalishvili dismissing his claim for a title shot, things can get tricky.

But darn Umar, if won’t go down swinging.

Umar dismisses Merab as champion

The Umar Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili beef has been going on for a long time. The newly crowned champion does not think the Dagestani fighter deserves a title shot next. According to the Georgian, Umar has only defeated one of the top 15 ranked fighters in the bantamweight division and needs to do more to get to the top of the hill.

Umar, on the other hand, does not think ‘The Machine’ deserves to be champion. During the same podcast episode he dissed the newly crowned bantamweight champion by asking if he has finished anyone yet. He then called out Dvalishvili for being limited in his ability to choke or knock out anyone!

“Who has he finished? Nobody, he don’t have chokes, he didn’t knock out nobody….Even when he takedown somebody he can’t hold him, he can’t take back, he can’t try to choke him, do armbar, he don’t have anything.”

The only thing going for the Georgian according to ‘Young Eagle’ is his conditioning and his constant pressure. That is what has gotten him so far. And if Umar has his way, that’s all the distance he’s ever going to go.