Javier Mendez Warns UFC Would Underestimate Usman Nurmagomedov From PFL
Javier Mendez says the UFC would make a mistake if it treats Usman Nurmagomedov like a step down just because he fights in the PFL. The American Kickboxing Academy coach told Red Corner MMA that some fighters outside the UFC already belong on the same level as champions.
Nurmagomedov is 22-0 with one no contest and remains the PFL lightweight champion. He finished his contract with a first-round knockout of Archie Colgan on July 31 in New York and is now a free agent.
Khabib Nurmagomedov has said the next destination will be decided soon. UFC CEO Dana White has already said the promotion is interested.
Mendez, who works with Usman at AKA, does not think a move across promotions would come with a free pass. He expects the opposite.
“They’re gonna immediately underestimate somebody like Usman. They’re gonna fall into that thing about the PFL guys are not the same level. And some of those PFL guys are that level.”
That warning is the heart of his argument. In his view, the gap people assume between the two rosters is not as clean as UFC fans like to believe.
Mendez went further on the champion-versus-the-field idea. He does not buy the notion that a UFC title automatically settles every comparison.
“Everybody in their mind thinks that the UFC champion can beat everybody, but I don’t believe that to be 100% true.”
That is his opinion, not a booking or a ranking. It does explain why he wants Usman measured against the top of the 155-pound division rather than dismissed as a regional champion.
Justin Gaethje holds the UFC lightweight title. Ilia Topuria is ranked No. 1, and Arman Tsarukyan sits at No. 2.
Tsarukyan is 23-3 and riding a five-fight winning streak. He last fought in November, submitting Dan Hooker in the second round in Qatar.
The Armenian contender returns Sept. 20 at UFC 331 against Mauricio Ruffy. That bout is his first assignment since the Hooker win and keeps him in the title conversation.
Mendez likes that style of fight for Usman. Asked how the PFL champion would match up with Tsarukyan, he did not hedge.
“He matches up extremely well with Arman, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we get him. Would not be surprised at all.”
He was not announcing a fight. He was saying that if Usman does reach the UFC, Tsarukyan is a realistic name, not a fantasy poster.
Mendez drew a line at the very top of the list. He said he would be surprised if the first UFC assignment was Topuria or Gaethje.
Anyone else, he suggested, would not shock him if a deal gets done. That still leaves Tsarukyan in the group he considers plausible.
Money is part of the same conversation. Mendez brought up Jake Paul and the PFL’s talk about paying fighters a larger share.
“Show me the money. Now’s your turn to talk.”
He tied that challenge to the 50 percent pay talk that has followed Paul’s involvement with the PFL. In his telling, Usman is in position to test whether those words become an offer.
None of this means Nurmagomedov has signed with the UFC. He is still the PFL champion, still undefeated, and still waiting on a decision.
A jump would put a 28-year-old AKA lightweight into the deepest division in the sport. Mendez’s point is that the first mistake would be assuming the PFL title on his record makes him smaller.
Tsarukyan has Ruffy first. Usman has a contract to choose.
If both sides land where Mendez expects, the coach would not be stunned to see them share the Octagon later. Until then, the only confirmed development is his warning that underestimating Usman Nurmagomedov because of the PFL would be a cheap read on a 22-0 champion.