Usman Nurmagomedov is trying to get paid.
On Friday night, Nurmagomedov successfully defended his lightweight title, knocking out Archie Colgan in the first round in the main event of PFL New York. The fight was the final one of Nurmagomedov’s PFL contract, who is now the biggest free agent in MMA. And following his big win, Nurmagomedov made it clear that his services are on offer to the highest bidder.
“We’ll see what’s going to happen,” Nurmagomedov said in his post-fight presser (h/t Home of Fight). “I have to talk to my team. Like I said, Jake Paul talks about Dana White doesn’t pay for his fighters. OK. Now it’s his turn. Show. Just show us.”
As Nurmagomedov pointed out, Paul has been highly critical of fighter pay in the UFC, and earlier this week, Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions merged with the PFL, forming one combat sports promotion. Paul was even in attendance for Nurmagomedov’s win, with Nurmagomedov telling him something very similar to his face.
Heading into this fight, fan speculation was rampant that Nurmagomedov was all but guaranteed to join the UFC next, following in the footsteps of his teammates, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, as part of the long-ranging plans of former coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. And Usman was very honest about the role that plays in his decision.
“Father’s plan, it means, before, when he was alive, he talked about Khabib going to be champion, when he moves, Islam will be champion, because when Khabib took the belt, it was not some mistake,” Nurmagomedov said. “We showed the level. And after Islam, Usman going to become. This is legacy. This is Father’s Plan. We’re just trying to follow this.”
But just because this was the plan, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen, Nurmagomedov said. Because while Abdulmanap’s vision might be nice, it doesn’t put food on the table for Usman’s family.
“Legacy — we keep doing legacy, but money, brother. I have a family. Legacy doesn’t pay check,” Nurmagomedov said.
“We’ll see. I don’t want to go ahead and say something, big words. I have to talk to Khabib, I have to talk with my team, and then we will make the decision. Right now, I cannot make the decision, ‘I’m gonna do this, do this,’ because I can’t. I have my team.”
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