It’s not that Alfie Davis doesn’t consider Usman Nurmagomedov a good fighter. He just doesn’t think the PFL lightweight champion is anything special.
Davis (20-5-1) will get a chance to back up his belief when he challenges Nurmagomedov (20-0) for his 155-pound title in the PFL Dubai (ESPN app) main event Saturday at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. Davis earned this opportunity after winning three consecutive fights in four months to claim the PFL lightweight tournament crown. Those wins came against Clay Collard, former Bellator champion Brent Primus and upset of Nurmagomedov teammate Gadzhi Rabadanov in the final.
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Heading into PFL Dubai, the vibes around Davis are high.
“My fighting style is quite unpredictable because, at times, I don’t know what I’m going to do either,” Davis said. “When I get into a flow state, start dancing and enjoying myself, things come out. It makes me a hard fighter to game plan for and to find training partners to replicate. The Dagestanis have this aura about them that they’re unbeatable killers, but we all know everyone is human, a team is a team. This is the fight business. You only get what you put in.”
To that end, Davis isn’t overly impressed with Nurmagomedov’s wrestling – at least when comparing him to his coach, UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, and others in his camp such as UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev and UFC bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov.
“People say he’s a great wrestler. I do think he has good wrestling, but his pedigree was not actually wrestling,” Davis said. “He started wrestling in his later teens. He’s not like the other Dagestanis. And when you look at him, he doesn’t have great driving (double-leg takedowns). He’s got more cheeky trips. And even on the floor he’s not good at holding. Paul (Hughes) managed to get up every single time. He’s more of a back taker and stall on the back.
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“What Usman does well is he steals exchanges very well. This is why he’s not got a huge amount of KOs. He doesn’t go for the kill. He wins on taking the exchanges in the fight and stealing rounds. If you were to put him in a wrestling match with good wrestlers, I don’t think he’d fare well. I think he’s a decent grappler, but I think there are ways to exploit what he does.”
Whether or not Davis can do that will be revealed Saturday.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: PFL Dubai: Alfie Davis feels ready for Usman Nurmagomedov’s wrestling
