CHICAGO – You wouldn’t know by watching, but the Bellator 288 co-main event was a challenge for Usman Nurmagomedov . It certainly didn’t look that way as Nurmagomedov dominated Patricky Freire and cruised to a 50-45, 50-44, 50-44 unanimous decision win to claim the lightweight championship Friday at Wintrust Arena. For Nurmagomedov, the fight was one-way traffic for 25 minutes. And therein lied the real (and perhaps only) challenge: It was the first time that the undefeated Nurmagomedov (16-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) went 25 minutes in the cage. “Of course it was a big challenge for me, because it was my first five rounds,” Nurmagomedov told reporters, including MMA Junkie, afterward. “And I had some pressure before the fight, but all good.
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