Javier Mendez, the coach of Usman Nurmagomedov at American Kickboxing Academy, believes he could fight Paddy Pimblett in his UFC debut.
Nurmagomedov became a free agent following his first-round knockout win in PFL over Archie Colgan at PFL New York last week.
With a 22-0, 1 NC record in MMA, Nurmagomedov is the hottest free agent in MMA right now, and UFC president Dana White recently hinted that the world’s leading MMA promotion is interested in signing him.
If that’s the case, then Mendez believes Nurmagomedov could fight Pimblett off the rip in his UFC debut.
Javier Mendez Can See Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paddy Pimblett
Speaking to Submission Radio in a recent interview, Mendez said that while he would like to see Nurmagomedov fight either Arman Tsarukyan or Ilia Topuria first, he thinks the UFC will probably match up Nurmagomedov with Pimblett or Max Holloway.
“If he does jump in, I’m looking at the top two dogs, if he jumps in. Someone like (Arman) Tsarukyan, someone like (Ilia) Topuria, those are the two that I look at as the dream fights. Not dream fights, but the fights to want to have. But how it’s going to work if we do jump over … they’re probably going to give us someone like a Paddy (Pimblett). Someone of that stature, which is fine, too. Or maybe Max Holloway. Who knows? But it’s going to be somebody in the top five,” Mendez said (via MMAFighting.com).
Pimblett is coming off a terrific first-round submission win over Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 329, which got him back into the win column after losing to Justin Gaethje earlier this year at UFC 324. While the Gaethje loss was an upset at the time, now that Gaethje has beaten Topuria to win the UFC lightweight title, that loss from Pimblett doesn’t look so bad in hindsight.
Javier Mendez on Potential Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Ilia Topuria Matchup
While Mendez thinks that the UFC will give Nurmagomedov Pimblett in his UFC debut, he believes that a matchup against Topuria would be extremely interesting and also the hardest fight for his pupil, even if Khabib Nurmagomedov thinks that his younger cousin would win.
“He matches up extremely well with every one of those guys. The guy that’s going to be the toughest puzzle, in my opinion, is Topuria. He’s going to be the toughest puzzle, but we’ll get him solved, too. But he’s the toughest puzzle, and he’s the one I would have the most respect going up against. Khabib’s opinion may be different; other coaches that train Usman might have different opinions, but my opinion is (that) our toughest task we have to work on is Ilia. And we would do it. I know we would do it, but he is definitely, by far, our toughest challenge,” Mendez said.
With Topuria coming off a loss to Gaethje, he will likely fight someone coming off a loss in his next fight instead, as he looks to bounce back and get back into the win column.
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