“Umar [Nurmagomedov] is going to win” vs. [Mario Bautista] at UFC 321, per ex-Khabib trainee

Umar Nurmagomedov will return to the cage in the coming weeks, and a former Khabib team fighter has weighed in on this looming bantamweight bout. Nurmagomedov will take on Mario Bautista in a battle of ranked bantamweights with potential title implications attached to it at UFC 321 on October 25th.

Khalid Taha is the former Team Khabib member in question, with the ex-UFC vet preparing to fight Edgar Delgado Jimenez at Oktagon 75. That transpires on September 13th, and Taha appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts in the lead-up to the contest to discuss several subjects, including a past booking against one of the UFC 321 featured bantamweights.

Taha was lined up to face Mario Bautista at UFC Fight Night 201 in February 2022 before the former had to withdraw for reasons that were not disclosed. In that context, when touching upon the Mario Bautista versus Umar Nurmagomedov fight that was announced for UFC 321, Taha said,

“I trained a lot with team Khabib, but every time when I was there; first time was, Umar was in; he had a fight scheduled. It was like fight week, he fought. I guess first time when I was there, he fought at PFL. Second time when I was there, he was injured, and third time when I was there, he was in fight week and didn’t train.”

“So, I never had the opportunity to train with him, but like I see. Like I think he’s going to beat Mario Bautista. Mario Bautista is a very high skilled, all rounder. He has a crazy pace, goes always forward, can strike good, can grapple good, wrestle good, everything.”

Umar Nurmagomedov and his path to victory at UFC 321, per Taha

Delving further into why he thinks Umar Nurmagomedov will defeat Mario Bautista in the coming weeks, Taha continued,

“But I just see Umar, his distance management is amazing. When you see like how he fights and it’s a little bit similar to Islam Makhachev. They are both amazing wrestlers but in the striking they don’t take damage, you know, and that’s a [good] thing.”

“It’s very, very good, you know, and that’s what Umar has. His grappling is amazing. His cardio is good. His wrestling is from another level. So, I think Umar is going to win this fight. Maybe, maybe by decision. But I think it’s going to be a unanimous one.”

Nurmagomedov aims to rebound from the first professional blemish on his MMA record when he fell short in a title bid versus reigning bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311 in January. Conversely, Bautista is on an eight-fight win streak with recent victories over the likes of Jose Aldo and former Bellator MMA champ Patchy Mix through that stretch.