UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has announced he will host an annual MMA tournament in memory of his late father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov who passed away in July.
‘The Eagle’ revealed details of his tournament in a recent interview with Match TV. Nurmagomedov announced the tournament will take place every year and expressed his desire for it to feature elite level MMA fighters, he said.
“This tournament will be annual, we have already planned it. Only the date will change. So every year at the end of summer or at the beginning of fall we will have this event every year. Other than that, there were no problems with the organization.
“The fighters wanted to fight, and promoters also were also interested in making the event. Most likely due to the fact that many events have been canceled because of coronavirus pandemic. So everything came about very well. I hope the tournament will be held at a high level.”
The undefeated lightweight king took time out to highlight two fights on the card that will take place this coming Wednesday at the Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace in Moscow, Russia.
“I can highlight two fights from this event. Nurmagomedov said. “The first one is with my brother Usman. And the second one is the main event. A fight between two champions of their organizations (Fight Nights Global and GFC) – Vladimir Mineev versus Dauren Ermekov.I think Mineev will be the winner, but you can’t underestimate Ermekov.” (Transcribed by RT)
Nurmagomedov hasn’t fought since picking up a third-round submission win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 in September 2019. He is scheduled to face the interim lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje in the UFC 254 main event next month. If he is successful, Nurmagomedov is hoping to fight Georges St Pierre before calling it a career.
Will you be watching the tournament put on by Khabib Nurmagomedov later this week?