LAS VEGAS – Tagir Ulanbekov believes things went smoothly against Nate Maness thanks to his preparation with Umar Nurmagomedov.
The UFC flyweight says Nurmagomedov played a crucial role in getting him ready for Saturday’s bout at UFC Fight Night 214. And it’s not only because Nurmagomedov is a quality fighter but also because Nurmagomedov himself had fought Maness in his most recent outing.
“Umar and I have been training together for about 10 years at this point,” Ulanbekov told reporters afterward. “When we get together in the cage for practices, we spar really, really hard, and we go way harder than what you saw today. So what he did was he helped me with my game plan. He fought this guy before, so he kind of told me what’s going to work against him and what’s not. If it wasn’t for him, it be much harder to prepare.”
With the win, Ulanbekov was able to bounce back from his defeat to Tim Elliott back at UFC 272 in March. He’s 3-1 since joining the promotion in 2020.
You can watch Ulanbekov’s full post-fight interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.
