On Saturday, the undefeated Russian moved to 28-0 in his career with a suffocating performance to take out Dustin Poirier in a title unification bout from Abu Dhabi. It was a signature showing from Nurmagomedov as he punished Poirier on the ground over two-plus rounds before securing a rear naked choke to finish the fight at 2:06 into the third round.
“Last fight with bulls—t guy, we had a lot of crazy stuff. We show really what is this MMA. MMA, No. 1 thing is respect,” Nurmagomedov said following his second straight title defense. “MMA is not about trash talking.