Is Said Nurmagomedov Related to Khabib? Dana White’s Brutal Error in UFC Abu Dhabi Announcement

UFC community fact-checks Dana White after he incorrectly labels Said Nurmagomedov the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Is Said Nurmagomedov Related to Khabib? Dana White’s Brutal Error in UFC Abu Dhabi Announcement

UFC CEO Dana White in hot water for mislabeling fighter as family of Khabib Nurmagomedov (Source: X/IMAGO)

Dana White recently unveiled an impressive lineup for the UFC’s highly anticipated return to Abu Dhabi on July 26th, as he usually is prone to doing on IG lives and social media. It consists of a headlining barnburner and a UFC 185-pound title eliminator between Robert Whittaker and Reinier De Ridder. A key featherweight scrapper between Movsar Evloev vs. new signee Aaron Pico is also on the card. One thing that legitimately isn’t in the stacks that night: any relative of Khabib Nurmagomedov fighting.

Ex-UFC lightweight legend Khabib Nurmagomedov hung it up after UFC 254 PPV headliner: a title win over Justin Gaethje that won him Best Submission ESPY, and added to his later accolades and a stellar undefeated run.

Nurmagomedov still comes cageside and has coached friends and family. He has also been recently cornering former longtime 155-pound champ Islam Makhachev again. “Eagle” also cornered Belal Muhammad for his TKO win over Sean Brady at UFC 280 and advised him last year. It was a tad bit odd when CEO Dana White mentioned Said Nurmagomedov in his stack-up of six fights, but called him Khabib’s cousin.

[Also] ...Bryce Mitchell is making a big move down to the bantamweight division, ...and will debut against the always dangerous Said Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Khabib.
Dana White via IG (@danawhite)

Said Nurmagomedov takes part in a key UFC 135-pound move down for Bryce Mitchell. Mitchell, a longtime former 145-pounder, recently lost out to the surging Jean Silva in way of a second-round choke at UFC 314, and got listed for a move down.

Following a four-fight win streak, Nurmagomedov — not related to Khabib and cousin Umar Nurmagomedov — has lost two of his most recent three. More recently, though, the surging Vinicius Oliveira outworked him at UFC Saudi Arabia in February. Now he will be seeking a new life in his UFC on ABC 9 ballot fight. But more to White’s serious matchmaking flub, the fight community has responded in full force.

Fight fans react to Dana White’s incorrect claims

UFC bossman Dana White has been in some hot water lately. The biggest talking point about him losing touch and interest with his UFC Execs and inner workings comes in light of Jon Jones. The consensus best fighter has had two heavyweight ballot fights in five years and has dried out an interim champ for an ungodly amount of days.

Fight fans react to Dana White
Fight fans react to Dana White (Source: X)

First impressions were that White was going to make a heavyweight superfight possible, and Jones’ PPV monetary compensation was being negotiated. However, even Brass is not confident that it is going anywhere, and a PPV title unifier is possible; hence, the thoughts of the bossman being out of touch. Jones practically dispelling rumors that he accepted a PPV unification only cemented that more.

Tough luck because White also missed out on an Ilia Topuria–Islam Makhachev PPV title superfight booking for IFW festivities. Per reports, it also came to be known that head litigator and UFC CBO Hunter Campbell visited Makhachev to persuade him to relinquish in favor of Topuria contending for gold status.

Now, with Dana White incorrectly billing Said Nurmagomedov as the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov, fight fans are not happy.

Safe to say, fans were not happy with the commentary flub and fact-checked the UFC CEO on it. Some have also pointed out the year-long UFC-ESPN bad communion on cable Pay-per-view with middling PPV prelims beyond the main cards on ESPN+, Hulu SVOD, ESPN & ESPN Deportes. While this fight night setup is good, the exception just proves the rule better. A flub of calling things as it isn’t didn’t favor the matter.

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