“Junior only go forward. May Allah keep you safe and help you in everything. @umar_nurmagomedov let’s go my Brother,” wrote Khabib Nurmagomedov before Umar Nurmagomedov’s fight against #2nd ranked Cory Sandhagen at UFC Abu Dhabi. This fight held the potential to increase the ‘Young Eagle’s ranking from a meager #10 to almost the top of the bantamweight division, and that’s what happened after the fighters entered the Octagon.

Umar won via a unanimous decision and with this win, he also kept his record spotless, 18-0. In fact, the Dagestani fighter has never lost a single round in his entire MMA career, and ‘Sandman’ too failed in breaking his walls.

With the help of Khabib Nurmagomedov in his corner, Umar ousted Cory Sandhagen to clinch the victory. He devised a plan to overwhelm Cory Sandhagen ͏by emp͏loying w͏orl͏d-class grapplin͏g. However, the American had͏ his own strategy. Despite Umar attempting ͏t͏o submit Sandhagen five times throughout the five-round match, he successfully de͏fend͏ed against each take͏down attempt but eventually lost via decision.

Could this set up Umar Nurmagomedov versus Sean O’Malley that could outsell the 2.4M PPV record set by McGregor vs. Khabib in 2018?

Well, we don’t know, but that’s something the fans would want to see. Social media users took to Instagram to share their thoughts on the potential matchup.

Umar Nurmagomedov’s victory at UFC Abu Dhabi brings up questions!

An interesting stat about the fight is that Cory Sandhagen threw as many significant strikes at Umar Nurmagomedov as all of his other opponents threw at the Dagetsani in their fights combined. Regardless, this victory has given a golden ticket to the Dagestani to fight for the bantamweight title against the winner of Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili, which will go down at UFC Noche in September.

Nurmagomedov’s performance got a word of appreciation from the entire UFC community. The welterweight champion of the world, Belal Muhammad came forward to congratulate his teammate for his victory. It must be noted that Khabib Nurmagomedov played a huge role in constructing a game plan for Muhammad’s victory against Leon Edwards last weekend. ‘Remember The Name’ wrote, “Amazing win @UNmgdv Alhamdulillah.”

Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman also came forward to appreciate Umar Nurmagomedov. “Great Fight. Umar is the Truth. Title Shot Next.”

Well, it does seem like the Dagestani fighter deserves a title fight soon. With an undefeated record and similar dominance to what Khabib had shown, the 28-year-old could take over the bantamweight division. Yet things won’t be as easy. With Sean O’Malley as the current champion, Umar would have to fight tooth and nail to get the belt.

Well, if we are talking about the bantamweight division, then it would be criminal to not include the former bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling’s statement for the new prospect of the division, “High-level fight men. Great showing for the bantamweight and how skilled it is. Umar earns his title shot IMO.”

And this is something UFC CEO Dana White agrees with. Post-fight, he talked to Kevin Iole and shared that Umar Nurmagomedov will fight the winner of Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas. Looks like a title shot is guaranteed!

On the same note, UFC fans had their own theories:

• “So if we get Umar vs Suga is the ufc gonna try to promote it like Conor vs Khabib 2.”
• “conor vs khabib except without all of the personality of conor. Might still sell well lmao”

What’s your take on the fight? State your thoughts in the comments below.