{"id":36957,"date":"2026-02-22T18:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T18:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Makhachev-Usman-Nurmagomedov-ready-to-sign-with-UFC-after-PFL-contract-expires-200215"},"modified":"2026-02-22T18:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T18:00:02","slug":"makhachev-usman-nurmagomedov-ready-to-sign-with-ufc-after-pfl-contract-expires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/makhachev-usman-nurmagomedov-ready-to-sign-with-ufc-after-pfl-contract-expires\/","title":{"rendered":"Makhachev: Usman Nurmagomedov ready to sign with UFC after PFL contract expires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> believes Usman
\nNurmagomedov<\/a> is as good as any
\nUFC<\/a> lightweight. <\/p>\n

While most elite fighters of Makhachev\u2019s team are in the UFC,
\nNurmagomedov is making waves in the
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a>. The undefeated PFL lightweight
\nchampion is inevitably being compared to top-tier UFC lightweights.
\nMakhachev knows Nurmagomedov\u2019s true potential, having trained with
\nhim since childhood. The UFC welterweight champion believes
\nNurmagomedov can pose a serious threat to the best UFC
\nlightweights. <\/p>\n

\n

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

Nurmagomedov has one fight left on his current PFL contract, which
\nwill expire at the end of 2026 regardless of whether he fights
\nagain. While Makhachev believes Nurmagomedov is already ready for
\nthe UFC, he doesn\u2019t want his teammate to rush things. Makhachev
\nbelieves it will be the perfect time for Nurmagomedov\u2019s UFC career
\nonce his PFL contract expires in 2026.<\/p>\n

Plenty of Time Ahead<\/h2>\n

\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t think Usman is any worse than anyone [in the
\nUFC],\u201d Makhachev told Ushatayka. \u201cHe would give very hard rounds to
\nany of them. We have been training together for so many years, and
\nI know his true potential. He is still young and has plenty of time
\nahead of him. If you ask me, I think he is ready. But let him take
\nhis time. As long as his contract expires within a year, it will be
\nthe perfect time [to move to the UFC].\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurmagomedov (21-0) has finished 15 of his 21 career wins so far,
\nleaving behind names like Patricky
\nFreire<\/a> and Benson
\nHenderson<\/a> in his wake. Nurmagomedov won the inaugural PFL
\nlightweight title against Paul Hughes<\/a>
\nlast year and has since defended it in a rematch against Hughes and
\nagainst Alfie
\nDavis<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Islam believes that Usman
\nNurmagomedov<\/a> is already good enough to compete at the UFC level
\nbut says he doesn\u2019t need to rush, and as long as his contract
\nexpires within the next year, it\u2019ll be a perfect time to join the
\nUFC<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s ready, he would give hard rounds to anyone\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/4xlU9rDfmC<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
\nFebruary 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Islam Makhachev believes Usman Nurmagomedov is as good as any UFC lightweight.  While most elite fighters of Makhachev\u2019s team are in the UFC, Nurmagomedov is making waves in the Professional Fighters League. The undefeated PFL lightweight champion is inevitably being compared to top-tier UFC lightweights. Makhachev knows Nurmagomedov\u2019s true potential, having trained with him since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36957","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\/36957","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=36957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}