Overview
- On July 31 Nurmagomedov knocked out Archie Colgan to finish his PFL contract and become a 22-0 free agent.
- UFC president Dana White’s one-word reply, “Sure,” when asked about signing Nurmagomedov has heightened expectations that the UFC will pursue him.
- The PFL–MVP partnership has publicly tried to retain Nurmagomedov and multiple reports say PFL holds a 90-day exclusive negotiating window after his contract ended.
- Manager Ali Abdelaziz publicly pushed for a high-profile UFC debut against Ilia Topuria and made detailed stoppage predictions that prompted forceful rebuttals from Topuria’s manager Malki Kawa and reactions from fighters such as Max Holloway.
- No contract or fight has been announced and the coming weeks of negotiations will determine whether the outcome is a UFC signing, a PFL–MVP deal, or another path, with public rhetoric serving as leverage rather than confirmed matchmaking.