Nurmagomedov's equally undefeated cousin coming to Bellator
Khabib's 23-year-old Cousin, Usman, will be fighting at Bellator 252 on April 2nd. Usman is a 155-lb Muy-Thai specialist, 11-0-0 with seven knockouts and three submissions (only one decision win) but this will be his first fight outside of Russia.
Usman and Kabib have the same support staff and their manager (Ali Abdelaziz) says that Usman is an even better-rounded fighter, stronger in all disciplines -- particularly striking -- than cousin Khabib. I've not watched any of his fights (yet) but he's "only" ranked 10th or 11th in Russia (it varies by ranker), which would lead me to believe that either those claims are a bit inflated or Russia is hiding a bumper crop of Fedor Emelianenkos from the west.
The odd thing to me is that whenever young fighters with YUGE potential surface, they usually get caught in the UFC's gravitational pull. As much time as Dana White spends sniffing Khabib's ass I figure he had to be plenty familiar with Usman's potential, which gives me to suspect that one of them doesn't think so much of the other. Either Dana has a different perspective of Usman's talent from most of the rest of the MMA world or Usman isn't so fond of Dana (maybe because of what he's been told by cousin Khabib?).
Just to sweeten the deal, Neiman Gracie also on that card. Neiman is son of Robson and grandson of Gracie jiu-jitsu founder Carlos Gracie. A submission specialist (what else?), he's 10-1 in MMA and 8-1 in Bellator (one loss by [unanimous] decision). So a display of high-level grappling is pretty much guaranteed.
Main event on that card is Patricio (not Patricky) Freire vs. Emmanuel Sanchez II for the featherweight belt. Pitbull won a decision over Sanchez at their last meeting in November of 2018.
Could be worth watching.
