Dubai is hub of combat sports and perfect home for PFL, says Khabib

Khabib Nurmagomedov will take center stage in a different way on February 7, guiding a wave of his fighters into PFL’s “Road to Dubai” card at Coca-Cola Arena and using the event to highlight how far his camp has come in the new landscape of MMA.

The show marks PFL’s third major event in Dubai and opens the league’s 2026 schedule with a championship doubleheader and a prominent Dagestani presence that carries his influence across multiple divisions.

At the top of the bill, his cousin Usman Nurmagomedov defends the PFL lightweight title against 2025 tournament winner Alfie Davis in a five-round main event.

Usman enters at 20–0 with one no contest and was recently confirmed as the promotion’s first men’s pound‑for‑pound No. 1 when PFL launched its independent rankings with Combat Registry in January.

For Khabib, Dubai is a hub of combat sports, and a perfect home for the PFL.

“It’s an amazing collaboration between Dubai and PFL,” he said. “They need something big like PFL. Every event the arena is full, a lot of good fights. This is the third PFL show in Dubai and every event they make successful. It is a very good collaboration for both of them, Dubai and PFL.”

With the league committed to regular events in the region and his fighters occupying key slots on the card. It’s a partnership that gives his Dagestani camp a consistent stage.

“[Dubai] is the safest place in the world. This is the only place on earth where, when my family and my kids go outside, I do not worry about them. It is really safe, I really enjoy living here, and I have felt this way every time.”

The coach and all-time great Nurmagomedov explained how seeing a fighter he grew up with take that spot alongside UFC champion Islam Makhachev carries personal weight.

“Usman is on top, he is the best pound‑for‑pound fighter in PFL, and we have the best pound‑for‑pound fighter in the UFC,” he said. “From one team, two guys who grew up with me. Usman is my cousin, and Islam has been with me almost 25 years. It makes me proud.”

“Abu Dhabi with the UFC and Dubai with the PFL. So many great fights have happened over the last five years here in the UAE. You can even see there are more big fights coming. I want to draw attention to the co-main event as well. There are two Dagestani fighters, and I really believe both of them are in the top five in the welterweight division in the world right now.”

Nurmagomedov’s assessment of Davis shows why. The Englishman claimed last year’s PFL lightweight tournament, defeating Gadzhi Rabadanov in the final to secure the $500,000 prize and his title shot. PFL’s own announcement framed Davis as a creative striker capable of upsetting the champion after a 20‑5‑1 run built on kicks and high‑volume attacks.

Khabib is quick to stress that the team’s success is shared. “It’s not only myself and Javier Mendez. We lead the team, we coach them, but they are inside, they push each other and they learn from all of them,” he said. “They compete with each other every day in the gym and I am very proud. We are one of the best teams in the world in a young sport that is growing every year.” That internal competition is visible in recent footage from Dubai camps, where Usman, Islam and their younger teammates cycle through wrestling and striking rounds under his supervision.

The build‑up to Dubai was complicated behind the scenes. Umar Nurmagomedov was preparing in Las Vegas while Usman’s camp ran in Dubai, forcing the retired champion to split his attention across continents. “Honestly, it was not easy because the preparation was a little bit split,” he admitted. “Usman is fighting in Dubai, Umar was fighting in Las Vegas, but I stayed focused more with Usman. With coach Javier we decided Usman’s opponent was going to be tougher than Umar’s opponent, so we fully focused on Usman, and Umar prepared in Las Vegas with Ali Abdelaziz and our other brothers and good sparring partners.”

Beyond the main event, Dubai will also showcase other teammates from the Nurmagomedov system. The main card includes a welterweight title fight between undefeated Ramazan Kuramagomedov and 2025 tournament champion Shamil Musaev, while former PFL featherweight tournament winner Jesus Pinedo meets unbeaten prospect Salamat Isbulaev. Earlier in the night, Khabib‑trained lightweights such as Amru Magomedov and fellow Dagestani prospects appear on the extended lineup, part of a pipeline that has seen his late father Abdulmanap’s school supply talent to major organizations for more than a decade.

As PFL Road to Dubai approaches, Nurmagomedov’s role blends coach, strategist and figurehead. He has shifted his focus from defending his own titles to building careers for Usman, Umar and a new generation of Dagestani fighters.

If February 7 goes the way he plans, PFL’s first event of 2026 will reinforce a message he is comfortable repeating: the team he leads from Dagestan now shapes title pictures in multiple promotions, and Dubai is where that message will be broadcast loudest.