The UFC's bantamweight division didn't need any more talent, yet
here comes Umar
Nurmagomedov. Through two UFC fights, Khabib's cousin has lived
up to the hype; most of the difficulty he's encountered during his
time on the roster has been in regards to actually making it to the
cage. But inside of the Octagon, it's been aces; Nurmagomedov has a
flashy but effective kicking game, but has looked scintillating
when he's been able to get his hands on his opponent, scoring rear
naked chokes of Sergey
Morozov and Brian
Kelleher without much difficulty. Up next is Nate Maness, who
has the potential to serve as a stiff test. Unlike Nurmagomedov,
Maness didn't come to the UFC with much hype despite a solid
regional resume, though "Mayhem" has proven to be a surprisingly
effective scrapper that's gone undefeated through three UFC fights.
A large bantamweight, Maness is willing to cede ground at times but
has been able to hold his own just about anywhere in the hopes that
he can turn things around on his opponents, an approach that scored
him second-round knockouts of Luke
Sanders and Tony
Gravely in his last two bouts. There's a chance he could crack
Nurmagomedov here, but this does seem like a poor stylistic matchup
for the American; Maness is likely to give Nurmagomedov some early
opportunities to get his game going, and unlike Maness's previous
opponents, the Russian is unlikely to hand back any big
opportunities in return. Maness has done well to get this far in
his UFC career, but this looks to be Nurmagomedov's fight to lose;
the pick is Nurmagomedov via second-round submission.
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