Said Numragomedov gets the 16th win of his career as he beats Douglas Silva on the main card of UFC Vegas 58. Coming into the fight, Nurmagomedov was on a 2 fight win streak. He had defeated both Mark Striegl and Cody Stamann via stoppage. Although he did not get a stoppage this time around, Said utterly dominated Douglas and got the win via unanimous decision.
The stats of the fight reveal the entire story of the fight. Nurmagomedov attempted 150 total strikes and landed 77 of them. It included 42 significant strikes as well. Although he did not have better control time on the mat this time around, he made up for it by bossing Silva around on the feet. However, he did attempt 5 takedowns and landed 1 of them.
Finishers look to move their win streaks to 3️⃣@DSilva_MMA vs Said Nurmagomedov is ON DECK live on @ESPN! #UFCVegas58 pic.twitter.com/02Sogm4V5i
— UFC (@ufc) July 10, 2022
With this win, Said Numragomedov now holds a UFC record of 5 wins and 1 loss. His only loss came against Raoni Barcelos almost 3 years ago. Although it was a unanimous decision loss, the bout was certainly close. But the 30-year-old has matured since then and has managed to turn himself into a big threat to the rest of the division.
Said Nurmagomedov will be a problem for the UFC bantamweight division
There is another Nurmagomedov for the UFC bantamweight division to worry about. It already has Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov. He is a fighter with an undefeated record of 15-0. Although Said does not get talked about too much, he is also in the conversation to be one of the future contenders for the 135lbs title.
Said has 4 knockouts and 4 submissions in his career so far. He has knocked out 2 of his opponents in the UFC and submitted Cody Stamann at UFC 270 this year. But he does have a better striking game, unlike other UFC fighters who have the same surname in the UFC. His striking and kickboxing are absolutely elite. Said has the tendency to catch his opponents off guard more often than not.
On the feet, he lands at an average of 4.75 strikes per minute and has a landing accuracy of 46%. Nurmagomedov is also very good defensively as he absorbs less than half of what he dishes out. But in order to go toe to toe with the best in the division, he will need to sharpen up his grappling more. In both of his career losses, he got overwhelmed by better wrestlers.
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Hence, that is the one aspect of his game that his opponents will definitely look to exploit. For example, the current champ Aljamain Sterling is an elite grappler who will be a nightmare matchup for Said. But at the same time, he is good enough to stand and bang with the best of the division.
With a few more fights, Nurmagomedov will break into the Top 15. With an improved wrestling skillset, Said will be a huge problem for the rest of the division.
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