Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Khabib’s cousin, set for UFC debut

Abubakar Nurmagomedov, the cousin of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, is set to make his Octagon debut at UFC Moscow on November 9. The Russian is expected to fight Germany’s David Zawada. This news was first reported by ESPN reporter Brett Okamoto, who was informed by manager Ali Abdelaziz.

Abubakar Nurmagomedov (15-2-1), Khabib's cousin, will make his UFC debut on Nov. 9 at UFC Fight Night in Moscow, per his manager Ali Abdelaziz. He will fight David Zawada. Abubakar likely would have fought in Abu Dhabi next week, but was recovering from injury.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) August 29, 2019

“Abubakar Nurmagomedov (15-2-1), Khabib’s cousin, will make his UFC debut on Nov. 9 at UFC Fight Night in Moscow, per his manager Ali Abdelaziz. He will fight David Zawada. Abubakar likely would have fought in Abu Dhabi next week, but was recovering from injury.” – Brett Okamoto on Twitter.

According to Okamoto, Abubakar was initially targeted for a UFC debut at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi next weekend, but this timeframe did not line up due to an injury.

UFC 242 will be headlined by a lightweight title fight between Khabib and interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier.

Although Abubakar Nurmagomedov has never competed in the UFC’s Octagon, stating that he has never fought inside it is a little inaccurate, as he was one of several fighters involved in the infamous UFC 229 brawl between team Khabib and team Conor McGregor.

Abubakar’s most recent legal fights have occurred under the Professional Fighters League (PFL) banner. He went 1-1-1 in the PFL, losing to Pavel Kusch, defeating Jonatan Westin, and battling UFC veteran Bojan Veličković to a draw. Prior to that, he went 5-0 in the World Series of Fighting — which became the PFL — where he most notably defeated UFC veteran John Howard.

His planned opponent, David Zawada, has gone winless in his first two UFC bouts, first losing a split decision to Danny Roberts, then succumbing to a vicious body kick from Weili Zhang. He’s 16-5 overall.

How do you think Abubakar Nurmagomedov will perform in the UFC?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/29/2019.