Demetrious Johnson thinks the UFC should do more than kick the tires on Usman Nurmagomedov. After watching Nurmagomedov finish Archie Colgan and hit free agency, Johnson said Dana White should spend big enough to pull the PFL lightweight champion away from the new MVP-PFL setup.
Nurmagomedov defended his PFL lightweight title at PFL New York on July 31, 2026, stopping Colgan by first-round TKO at 3:42 inside UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. The win moved him to 22-0 with one no contest, gave Colgan his first pro loss, and completed Nurmagomedov’s current PFL deal.
Johnson’s full breakdown is below.
The former UFC flyweight champion did not jump straight to contract talk. He first laid out why Colgan kept getting stuck outside and why Nurmagomedov could keep touching him before the finish.
I've seen Usman fight a couple times. Um, long range volume striker, counter wrestling, five round pacing.
Archie's doing a good job of staying right in front of Usman, but he's not giving any feints. He's not giving any like level changes.
Usman is doing a good job of throwing the push kick, throwing the jab. I'd like to see more activity from Archie.
If you're going to be a striker range in the edge of the void, you got to be showing something otherwise get the hell out of there because he's going to be defining you a lot sooner you will have find him.
He's got to throw something because Usman is waiting there. He's waiting to see what comes across.
Usman is throwing stuff into the void to get a reaction from Archie and he's testing.
Archie hasn't done anything um to make Usman respect his power or get across the void. So, that's why Usman's able to keep doing the push kicks.
The official finish clip is below.
USMAN NURMAGOMEDOV WITH THE FIRST ROUND KO 😱
#PFLNY | Main Card Live NOW on ESPN— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 1, 2026
Johnson pointed to the question-mark kick setup after Colgan spent the round reacting to push kicks and struggling to cross distance.
He fakes and he just looks. Fakes and he looks. He's got to pick it up and then he'll go left hand real quick.
He guessed it was going to be a push kick, but he realizes it's not. He goes to question mark kick, comes up top. Beautiful. Beautiful placement on this kick.
That's from him taking all those, throwing those push kicks and him not getting across the void.
Beautiful head kick. Then 3-2, 6-3.
Johnson Wants UFC To Steal A Star
That technical read is what made Johnson’s business answer sharper. He sees a 28-year-old unbeaten champion, a new PFL-MVP merger trying to prove its fighter-pay pitch, and a UFC side now operating in the Paramount era. The timing is why he framed Nurmagomedov as leverage, not just another name on the market.
This was my last fight. And MVP, they always talk trash talk a little bit about Dana, he doesn't pay. Now we're going to see how they want to pay.
This is where things become fun. Okay? What I mean by fun, we have a undefeated fighter, lightweight champion of PFL, who just had his last fight on his contract deal.
Now that we have the UFC who just signed a 7.7 billion-dollar deal with Paramount Plus, Usman has some options.
Jake Paul has always talked about how athletes don't make their fair share in mixed martial arts. And I agree with him. For how much money comes into the UFC, we athletes are getting pennies.
If I was Dana, I would pay Usman Nurmagomedov whatever the f*ck he wants to take him away from the PFL merger because you're stealing a star from their organization.
And there's a whole family right there. There's Khabib Nurmagomedov, there's Abubakar Nurmagomedov, there's Islam Makhachev, and there's Umar Nurmagomedov, and there's the coaches and the team.
I like the position that Usman is in.
Do you think he should go with Jake Paul, MVP, and PFL? Cuz he's beating everybody over there.
And if he is an athlete that wants to test himself against the best in the lightweight division, I think it would be sick to have him fight in a UFC lightweight division.
There are some good fights over there in the UFC lightweight division.
The names Johnson floated line up with the obvious fantasy matchmaking. Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria are UFC-side lightweight draws, while Islam Makhachev remains part of the same broader Nurmagomedov orbit. That is also why this is a different lane than Nurmagomedov simply taking the easiest check. A UFC move would connect him to the family title history already built by Khabib and Makhachev.
Nurmagomedov already used the post-fight microphone to put pressure on MVP-PFL after his title-defense finish over Colgan. He then became part of the same cage scene where Khabib took the PFL belt away from Jake Paul, and the free-agency lane had already been opened by Dana White leaving the UFC door open. Johnson is just saying the quiet part directly: if UFC can take the best lightweight outside the company during MVP-PFL’s first real recruiting test, it should make that expensive.
Johnson’s voice carries extra weight because his own UFC history is not small. He was the inaugural UFC flyweight champion, defended that belt a record 11 consecutive times, later won ONE Championship gold, and was named to the 2026 UFC Hall of Fame. Nurmagomedov’s resume is not that deep yet, but he already owns Bellator and PFL lightweight title history, an unbeaten record, and a free-agent window at the exact moment two rival promoters need to show who can actually pay.
