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The most dangerous version of Umar Nurmagomedov will surface on Saturday if manager Ali Abdelaziz is to be believed.

When Nurmagomedov enters SPD Bank Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, he will be looking to make a statement. Nurmagomedov suffered the first loss of his career in a UFC bantamweight title fight against Merab Dvalishvili back in early 2025, and he’s gone 2-0 since. While Nurmagomedov’s grappling has never been in question, some fans believe his ceiling is being held back due to his lack of finishes.

While Nurmagomedov hasn’t stopped his opponent since early 2023, Abdelaziz insists his fighter has a new attitude. He told MMAJunkie.com that Nurmagomedov might score that elusive finish over Song Yadong on Saturday.

“I’ll tell you something: I’ve never seen mean Umar,” Abdelaziz said. “Umar’s knocked out three people since I’ve been here. Umar never knocked out anybody in training. I had to have a conversation with him and I said, ‘Hey, you cannot be knocking out your training partner like that.’ And he said, ‘They need to put their hands up.’ He’s become very mean right now. It’s the wrong time to fight Umar. It’s not the right time to fight Umar now for anyone.”

Abdelaziz claimed that Nurmagomedov could’ve held out for the winner of a trilogy clash between current bantamweight champion Petr Yan and Dvalishvili. Instead, the Dominance MMA manager said that Nurmagomedov would rather fight four or five times a year regardless of who is put in front of him.

Nurmagomedov’s two wins following his first career defeat were against Mario Bautista and former UFC flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo. Both were unanimous decision victories in clean sweeps on the scorecards. Whether or not he can unleash the mean streak that his manager has been talking about will be answered when he meets Yadong at UFC Shanghai.

Do you think Umar Nurmagomedov gets a finish at UFC Shanghai, or are you expecting another decision on Saturday? Chime in below.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM