The last week of July 2026, Usman Nurmagomedov entered New York with an undefeated record of 21-0 and one no contest for his one last fight in his contract with PFL.

Even if you only hangout around UFC and drama, when you see the last name, you can already tell who the guy is (maybe sometimes we are wrong, but not in this case). As a member of Nurmagomedov family and the wider Dagestani fighting system, Usman has spent years training alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, Umar Nurmagomedov, and Magomed “Chanko” Zaynukov.

That connection naturally creates expectations around wrestling.

Usman has the balance, grappling awareness, and positional discipline associated with the team. His striking gives him a different identity. He fights comfortably at long range, uses kicks to control several targets, and builds traps through the reactions those kicks create.

Across from him stood Archie Colgan, another undefeated fighter with a 13-0 professional record and a strong wrestling background.

Colgan’s clearest route to victory involved closing distance, limiting Usman’s kicking space, and turning the fight into a wrestling exchange.

Usman understood that route from the beginning.

Instead of waiting for Colgan to establish pressure, he placed a kicking layer in front of every entry. Colgan had to solve the legs and body before he could reach the hips.

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Fighting Long Against a Shorter Wrestler

Both fighters opened in the orthodox stance.

Usman remained outside boxing range, circled around Colgan, and attacked the lower body with kicks. His positioning forced Colgan to travel farther before reaching takedown distance.

This created an immediate problem for the challenger.

Colgan wanted to pressure forward, repeatedly feint the level change, and make Usman react. A large defensive reaction could have exposed the legs or pushed Usman toward the fence.

Usman made him react instead. He did not respond to every feint by pulling his hips far backward or widening his stance. He continued circling and kept attacking Colgan’s approach with kicks.

That meant Colgan’s forward movement was never free. Before he could reach boxing or wrestling range, he had to cross the kicking layer, and Usman’s teeps pushed him backward. The leg kicks interrupted his steps, the body kicks forced him to stop and defend before continuing forward.

Whenever Colgan appeared close to crossing that distance, Usman added the jab. The punch did not need to cause major damage. It gave Colgan another reason to hesitate before driving deeper into range.

The sequence created several barriers:

Long-range kicks → Jab during the entry → Movement away from the pressure → Colgan forced to restart

Usman made Colgan pay for every metre of distance.

The wrestler could feint the takedown, yet the feint did not move Usman into a vulnerable position. Meanwhile, Usman’s kicks kept producing real defensive reactions.

That difference became the foundation of the finish.

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Attacking the Body to Control Colgan’s Attention

Usman’s front kicks and teeps served several purposes.

First, they interrupted Colgan’s pressure:

A wrestler needs enough forward momentum to connect cleanly to the hips or body. When a teep pushes the torso backward, the feet and upper body move out of alignment. The takedown entry becomes longer, slower, and easier to read.

Second, the kicks forced Colgan to defend targets below the head:

Colgan could not spend the entire fight watching Usman’s hands. He had to monitor the lead leg, body, and center line. Every time Usman raised his knee, Colgan needed to decide where the kick was travelling, think of his head need to answer these questions and make up defensive decision in less than one second:

Was it another teep?
Was it going toward the body?
Was Usman attacking the lead leg?
Could Colgan catch the kick and turn it into a takedown?

That collection of possibilities controlled his attention. During the opening minutes, Usman repeatedly gave him the same general message:

Watch out the lower body, dude!

Colgan began adapting:

• His hands dropped toward the body.
• His attention followed Usman’s hip and knee.
• His defense became prepared for the kicks that had already been shown.

Usman was collecting that reaction, the early body attacks produced some damage, though their larger value appeared when he changed the final target.

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The Question-Mark Kick Trap

The question-mark kick works through disguise.

Its opening movement can resemble a teep, front kick, or lower kick. The knee rises toward the center, encouraging the opponent to defend the body.

Then the hip rotates.

The lower leg changes direction and curves around the guard toward the head. Its travel path resembles the curved top of a question-mark symbol.

The strike becomes dangerous when the opponent has already developed a strong reaction to the lower target.

And Usman, he spent nearly two minutes establishing that reaction.

He repeatedly attacked Colgan’s legs and body. When the same kicking chamber appeared again, Colgan prepared for another lower strike.

Usman had already attempted one question-mark kick earlier, showing that the head could become a target. The second attempt caught the reaction he wanted.

The sequence looked like this:

Usman establishes the leg and body kicks → Colgan lowers his attention toward the expected target → Usman begins the kick with a familiar motion → Colgan reaches downward to defend → Usman rotates the hip and curves the kick over the guard → The exposed head receives the impact

Colgan’s mistake came from a reasonable defensive habit.

Usman had given him enough evidence to expect another low attack. The challenger reacted to the pattern that had been built in front of him.

Usman changed the answer at the final moment with the kick landed cleanly and dropped Colgan.

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Following the Finish Sequence

Colgan returned to his feet after the head kick, though his body had not fully recovered.

Before the knockdown, Colgan’s stance had been connected to his wrestling threat. His feet remained underneath him, and every forward movement carried the possibility of a level change.

After the kick, his balance became unstable. His defensive decisions slowed, and his feet moved before the rest of his structure had properly reset.

Usman switched from long-range kicks to punches, and a rear-hand follow-up sent Colgan down again. Colgan grabbed Usman’s leg, partly searching for a takedown and partly buying enough time to recover.

Connecting to the leg could slow Usman’s offense, create a scramble, and give Colgan several seconds away from clean punching range, he successfully back on his feet, but it’s only getting worse.

Usman increased the pressure while maintaining his balance. As Colgan tried to rebuild his guard and exchanged, an uppercut travelled through the center. The punch dropped him again.

This time, Usman followed him to the ground and continued with strikes until the referee stepped in at 3:42 of Round 1.

The finishing sequence moved through three connected phases:

1. Lower-body kicks trained Colgan’s defensive reaction.
2. The question-mark kick curved around that reaction and damaged his balance.
3. Punches and the uppercut punished his unstable recovery.

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The Knockout Started Before the Kick

The highlight will always be the question-mark kick, the moment most people will replay. But the deeper work happened since the beginning.

Usman controlled the outside range, interrupted Colgan’s wrestling pressure, and repeatedly directed his attention toward the legs and body.

Colgan built a defensive habit from the information he received, made him a reactive fighter in the fight, even when he tried to pressure and limit the cage.

Usman Nurmagomedov remind everyone of Chano during his UFC debut fight, where he also applied the same strategy with teep, front and leg kicks. With the damage accumulated through the rounds instead of flashy finish.

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What Comes Next for Usman Nurmagomedov?

The victory completed the final fight on Usman Nurmagomedov’s existing PFL contract.

After the result, he openly discussed free agency and invited both the PFL and UFC to show what they could offer him.

That storyline may become as important as the knockout itself.

Usman has now defended his title, defeated another undefeated lightweight, and moved his professional record to 22-0 with one no contest. His combination of wrestling pedigree, long-range striking, and growing finishing ability makes him one of the most valuable free agents in MMA. Especially with the background of Dagestani.

The UFC possibility is no longer coming only from fan speculation. When Dana White was asked whether the promotion would consider signing Usman, his answer was simple:

“Sure.”

That one word guarantees nothing. Contract negotiations still involve money, timing, promotional plans, and what the PFL offers to retain its champion.

The technical possibility remains fascinating.

The UFC lightweight division would give Usman a deeper collection of wrestlers, pressure fighters, counterpunchers, and experienced five-round opponents. It would also place him closer to the championship history created by Khabib and Islam.

Whether his next test comes inside the PFL SmartCage or the UFC Octagon, we may find out very soon.

For now, Archie Colgan became the clearest example of what makes Usman dangerous.

He entered the fight searching for a wrestling battle, Usman made him defend a kick that had not arrived yet.