Is Bryce Mitchell’s Next Opponent Said Nurmagomedov Related to Khabib?

The UFC just announced that the controversial Bryce Mitchell will be taking on Said Nurmagomedov for his next fight on July 26, in what will be a Fight Night event.

‘Thug Nasty’ has been struggling to put together a consistent run of form. Despite a strong start to his UFC career, the Arkansas native is 2-3 in his last five fights. In hopes of reversing this trend, Mitchell is moving down to bantamweight for his next bout.

His opponent, Nurmagomedov, is suffering a similar fate. The Russian is also looking to get a win streak going, and to do so, his plan has been to let go of the severe weight cut and move from flyweight to the 135 lbs.

But as curious as this fight might be on paper, Said’s last name seems to have created a lot of confusion.

So, is the 33-year-old fighter in any way related to the 29-0 former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov? Is he, like Umar Nurmagomedov, yet another one of Khabib’s cousins, looking to further Dagestani dominance in the sport?

Well, it turns out he isn’t. The Russian only shares the same surname as ‘The Eagle’. Nurmagomedov might seem like a unique last name to many in the USA, but it is a very common name in the Russian republics.

Weirdly, however, Said’s limelight has been disproportionately taken by Mitchell, who was seen… well, with a unique punching bag, to the disgust of many on social media.

Mitchell’s unique punching bag

‘Thug Nasty’ is a controversial figure for a number of reasons. He is quite talented inside the octagon and was once considered a top prospect lightweight division.

However, he has somehow, time and again, managed to walk seamlessly from one controversy to another. From hailing Hitler on his podcast to talking about shooting dogs, Mitchell has said from truly horrifying stuff.

In fact, UFC boss Dana White has actually gone on record to claim that he stuff Mitchell has talked about was some of the dumbest he’s ever heard.

It may sound harsh, but the fighter believes that the Earth is flat. And to add to that, he uses his social media like his personal diary; he shares absolutely everything that comes to mind, no matter how offensive it may sound.

In a recent post on social media, the former lightweight was seen doing something never done before. He had a pig hung by a rope and was using it as a punching bag to train on it. Naturally, it looked like he only used it to film a video for social media.

If it were any other fighter, fans would be rubbing their eyes, wondering what they had just seen. But since it’s Mitchell, fans in the comments section were rolling with the punches, with one fan even giving him the nickname ‘baconator.’