Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov says he’s too young, too fast, and too good for Brent Primus as he prepares to face the former champ at Bellator 300.
Nurmagomedov and Primus were bumped up to the main event spot at the historic 300th Bellator show after the planned heavyweight title bout was forced off the card, and Nurmagomedov spoke to reporters during media day, and said that he was happy to hear that Primus was confident of victory heading into the bout.
“When he said all the time he will beat me, he will beat me, I don’t understand,” Nurmagomedov said.
“He really believes in this? OK, but if you believe this, this is good. We’re going to show you guys a good fight.
“I respect this guy. He’s a former champion. But (on) Saturday night, I’m going to make him feel like he’s slow and old. That’s all I have to say, guys. Sorry!”
Nurmagomedov is perfect at 17-0, and is riding a six-fight win streak under the Bellator banner. After joining the promotion in 2021, he claimed four impressive wins, then outpointed Patricky Pitbull to capture the Bellator lightweight title.
That win propelled Nurmagomedov into the Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix Tournament, where he submitted former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson in half a round at Bellator 292 to register his first title defense and deliver a huge statement to the rest of the division.
Now he’s set to face former champ Primus, who outpointed Mansour Barnaoui in Paris to earn his spot in the tournament semi-finals.
The tournament offers Nurmagomedov the chance to add a second Bellator belt to his collection if he can go all the way, but to do that he’ll have to get past Primus, who said that he’s going to hand the Russian his first career loss.
“I like being the underdog,” said Primus.
“I feel like I do better when I’m the underdog. I don’t like it when people are like, ‘Oh, you’re going to win, you’re going to go out there and kill it.’
“I like being the underdog, I’ve been the underdog a lot, and I’ve proven a lot of people wrong. So, let’s go. I’m going to shock everybody like I said and this is exactly where I want to be.”
Bellator 300: Official fight card
MAIN CARD
- Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Brent Primus – for lightweight title
- Cris Cyborg vs. Cat Zingano – for women’s featherweight title
- Liz Carmouche vs. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane – for women’s flyweight title
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Lorrany Santos vs. Jackie Cataline
- Dmytrii Hrytsenko vs. Justin Montalvo
- Bryce Meredith vs. Miguel Peimbert
- Bobby Seronio III vs. Alberto Garcia
- Sara McMann vs. Leah McCourt
- Sergio Cossio vs. Jesse Roberts
- Henry Corrales vs. Kai Kamaka III
- Davion Franklin vs. Slim Trabelsi
- Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov vs. Maciej Rozanski
- Mukhamed Berkhamov vs. Herman Terrado
- Romero Cotton vs. Grant Neal
- Ilara Joanne vs. Jena Bishop
- Josh Hokit vs. Spencer Smith