"Another belt at home" - Khabib Nurmagomedov congratulates teammate Movlid Khaybulaev for becoming PFL featherweight world champion
Khabib Nurmagomedov has praised his teammate Movlid Khaybulaev after he became the PFL featherweight champion at PFL 10 last night.
In a grueling final, Movlid Khaybulaev managed to get the job done and secure his place at the top of the 145-pound mountain in the PFL. he also secured a cool $1 million to go alongside the championship belt.
The win took Movlid Khaybulaev to a professional mixed martial arts record of 19-0-1. At the age of just 31, there’s no telling what he could go on to accomplish from here.
Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has spent a lot of time training with Movlid Khaybulaev, gave his thoughts on his teammate’s performance in a post uploaded to Instagram.
“My congratulations @movlid_khaybulaev featherweight @pflmma World Champion. Another belt at home. You deserve this more then anyone.”
The man known as 'Killer' may not have always gotten the respect he deserves from the masses, but after this win, many will have to sit up and pay attention to what Movlid Khaybulaev is doing inside the cage.
Movlid Khaybulaev’s route to glory
Movlid Khaybulaev began his 2021 PFL campaign with a nice unanimous decision win against Lazar Stojadinovic. He went on to do the same against Lance Palmer.
Then, in the semi-finals, he secured his most impressive win yet by defeating Brendan Loughnane.
Complete domination by Movlid Khaybulaev en route to the 2021 @PFLMMA featherweight world title 🏆 #PFLChampionship https://t.co/ncJJeiGFX6
It all came down to Wednesday evening and with the lights on bright, Movlid Khaybulaev convincingly beat Chris Wade to make sure he was the one walking away as champion.
Now, the questions begin as to what he’s going to do next after such an intense season. Some want to see him carry on with the PFL. Others would prefer to see the Russian jump ship to either the UFC or Bellator.
Whatever the case may be, he has the kind of style that could easily prove suffocating for the majority of featherweights across the mixed martial arts sphere. If he does decide to stay in the PFL, he'll definitely be viewed as one of the favorites by the time the 2022 season rolls around.