"Is it Cory?" - Fans curious as Umar Nurmagomedov finally has next fight booked

Umar Nurmagomedov is set to return to the UFC octagon, and MMA fans are wondering who the opponent might be.

Undefeated with a 16-0 record, Umar is one of the most promising next-generation fighters trained by the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. He entered the top 15 of the official UFC bantamweight rankings with a devastating knockout win over Raoni Barcelos in January 2023.

The 28-year-old is considered a future title challenger due to his well-rounded skillset, which includes a dominant ground game. However, his strides toward a potential title shot slowed down due to a long stretch of inactivity in 2023.

The Dagestani fighter was scheduled to fight Cory Sandhagen in August but was forced to pull out due to an injury and replaced by Rob Font.

Nurmagomedov recently took to X and announced that the UFC has booked him for a fight. His post did not reveal the name of his opponent:

“Finally, I have a fight. Thank you so much for @ufc @seanshelby”

Fans took to the comments section of the post and shared their thoughts on the announcement, while speculating the name of Nurmagomedov’s opponent:

@BigBass_69 commented:

“Name? Is it Cory?”

@LudisCharta wrote:

“Can’t wait to see who it is. Congratulations on getting a fight, hopefully enough will say yes this year so you can increase your activity.”

Other fans commented:

“Let’s go brother so excited!”

“Martinez You are done brother.”

“Salam, Come-on, who you fighting?”

“UFC really needs to make consequences for guys who duck, they should go down in the ranking!”

“Only fight would make fans crazy would be against Martinez. And I am pretty sure about that fight. Jonathan leg kicks are out of this world. His boxing and TD is incredible, on the ither side we have seen many tines how good Umar is. He is the future Champ without doubt.”

“Is that Apsinal?”

“Please don't pull out…”

“Translation: 'finally someone above me in the rankings agreed to fight'"

Catch more fan reactions below:

Fan reactions to Nurmagomedov's announcement

---

Ali Abdelaziz reveals the date for Umar Nurmagomedov’s return

Umar Nurmagomedov’s manager and the CEO of Dominance MMA, Ali Abdelaziz, raised the curtain from the date of his return to the UFC octagon.

Abdelaziz took to his X account and wrote:

“@UNmgdv fight news March 2 who is excited?”

The March 2 UFC event will take place at the Apex Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will feature a high-stakes flyweight bout between Muhammad Mokaev and Alex Perez, along with nine other fights that have been announced so far.