When the calendar turned to Oct. 29, Usman Nurmagomedov officially became a free agent. 

Nurmagomedov (22-0), the PFL lightweight champion and former Bellator champ, has reached the end of the matching rights period built into his contract. He reportedly turned down a new deal from the PFL earlier in the 90-day period and now is free to sign with a new promotion. 

Ahead of Nurmagomedov’s free agency, MMA Junkie put together a list of where Nurmagomedov is most likely to wind up next:

• 1. UFC

That’s it. Thats’ the list. 

There is little to no chance the 28-year-old Russian will not sign with the UFC. His cousin is all-time UFC great Khabib Nurmagomedov, now retired and one of his key coaches and trainers. His brother Umar already is in the UFC and has challenged for the bantamweight title. His other most key teammate since Khabib’s retirement, Islam Makhachev, is the UFC’s welterweight champion and former lightweight champ. And his manager is Ali Abdelaziz, who is more connected to the inside UFC machinations than any other manager in the sport.

UFC CEO Dana White said this past week that as soon as Usman Nurmagomedov contractually is able to negotiate, the promotion’s brass will be on top of it, and while an announcement of his signing and first fight might not be imminent, it certainly seems inevitable. 

Nurmagomedov first fought in Bellator in 2021 and quickly went 3-0 there in seven months. He submitted Chris Gonzalez to get a shot at Patricky Freire’s lightweight belt, then beat him at Bellator 288 in late 2022 to win the title. He defended it against Benson Henderson, Brent Primus (a win that was overturned when he failed a drug test), Alexander Shabliy and Paul Hughes, the latter of which came under the PFL banner. 

In the PFL, he beat Hughes in a rematch to win the promotion’s inaugural 155-pound title, then snapped a four-fight streak of 25-minute decisions when he submitted Alfie Davis in February and knocked out Archie Colgan in July. That last one likely will stand as his final fight in the PFL.