Report: Umar Nurmagomedov to Fight on McGregor – Poirier Led Card

Chances are hardcore fans and prospect watchers are already invested in seeing Umar Nurmagomedov’s UFC debut. But, now the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s first UFC appearance has another, interesting storyline: it’s being reported he’s going to compete on the same card as Conor McGregor.

Nurmagomedov to battle Sergey Morozov at UFC 257

Due to the fact Umar is the younger cousin of Khabib, one of his training partners, and undefeated (12-0), there’s been a lot of buzz about his UFC debut. Unfortunately, Nurmagomedov has had three other bookings for his first UFC bout fall through.

Most recently, Nurmagomedov was scheduled to fight Sergey Morozov (16-4) at UFC 254 last month. But, the Dagestani fighter had to withdraw due to a staph infection.

Now Russia’s Morozov has told Tass that he has been scheduled to fight Nurmagomedov at UFC 257, January 23rd.  MMA Junkie has also been told by a source the bantamweight match-up is set for that card. 

As noted above, UFC 257 will be headlined by a fight between Khabib’s rival, McGregor, and Dustin Poirier. That card is expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, and one would think that there’s a good chance Khabib will be attending to support Umar.

Khabib also recently shared out on social media that he’ll see Dana White “soon”. So, it could be he was referring to the fact he’ll be attending the upcoming event.

So, in other words, fight week for that card could be very interesting. 

UFC 257 line-up

Here is the current line-up for UFC 257, which is expected to take place on Yas Island (card via MMA Junkie).

Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier
Joanne Calderwood vs. Jessica Eye
Amanda Ribas vs. Michelle Waterson
Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Brad Tavares
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Arman Tsarukyan
Ottman Azaitar vs. Matt Frevola
Sergey Morozov vs. Umar Nurmagomedov

*Card subject to change