{"id":36637,"date":"2026-02-04T16:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Khabib-Usman-Nurmagomedov-On-Same-Level-as-Ilia-Topuria-Arman-Tsarukyan-200010"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:25:11","slug":"khabib-usman-nurmagomedov-on-same-level-as-ilia-topuria-arman-tsarukyan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/khabib-usman-nurmagomedov-on-same-level-as-ilia-topuria-arman-tsarukyan\/","title":{"rendered":"Khabib: Usman Nurmagomedov On Same Level as Ilia Topuria, Arman Tsarukyan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Khabib
\nNurmagomedov<\/a> believes his cousin, Usman
\nNurmagomedov<\/a>, can hold his own against the best
\nUFC<\/a> lightweights. <\/p>\n

Usman became the inaugural
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a>L lightweight champion with a
\nvictory over Paul Hughes<\/a>
\nlast year. While the UFC is considered the pinnacle of MMA success,
\nKhabib believes Usman is on par with any UFC lightweight. Khabib
\nadmits that he wouldn\u2019t have said the same of Usman a year back.
\nHowever, having trained and sparred with Usman over the past year,
\nKhabib claims the PFL lightweight champion is on the same level as
\nUFC lightweight champion Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> and No. 1 contender Arman
\nTsarukyan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rapid Improvement<\/h2>\n

\u201cI have my own opinion on this, but it\u2019s not right to talk about
\nthe UFC being a PFL fighter. In one year, Usman has grown a lot,\u201d
\nKhabib told Team Gorilla Fighting. \u201cI\u2019m fighting with him myself,
\nI\u2019m working personally. And from the outside, he\u2019s at least on the
\nsame level as them [Ilia and Arman]. A year ago I would have said
\nwe still have to wait, but now he\u2019s already at that level. Time
\nwill show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usman (20-0) was also the lightweight champion at Bellator, where
\nhe beat the likes of Patricky
\nFreire<\/a>, Benson
\nHenderson<\/a> and Alexandr
\nShabliy<\/a>. Usman also defended the PFL lightweight title in a
\nrematch against Hughes this past October. The undefeated Dagestani
\nis now scheduled to defend his title against Alfie Davis<\/a>
\nat
\nPFL Road to Dubai<\/a> on Saturday at the Coca-Cola Arena in
\nDubai. <\/p>\n

Two World Title Fights
\nheadline PFL Road to Dubai! Tune in LIVE Saturday, Feb. 7 at 12
\np.m. ET<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Khabib says Usman
\nNurmagomedov<\/a> has reached Ilia and Arman\u2019s level \ud83d\udc40\ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one year, Usman has grown a lot. I\u2019m fighting with him myself,
\nI\u2019m working personally. And from the outside, he\u2019s at least on the
\nsame level as them [Ilia and Arman]. A year ago I would have said
\nwe still\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/u49eWeuVdv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
\nFebruary 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Khabib Nurmagomedov believes his cousin, Usman Nurmagomedov, can hold his own against the best UFC lightweights.  Usman became the inaugural Professional Fighters LeagueL lightweight champion with a victory over Paul Hughes last year. While the UFC is considered the pinnacle of MMA success, Khabib believes Usman is on par with any UFC lightweight. Khabib admits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}