Former M-1 Global lightweight Mairbek Taisumov made his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut back in Jan. 2014. Taisumov has gone 5-1 under the promotion, but hasn’t had a ranked opponent. That’s likely to change.
“Beckan” recently told Flo Combat that while he can’t reveal who he is in talks with to fight, it’ll be someone on the UFC rankings:
“I cannot say anything about that right now, but trust me you will know in just a matter of days. I can tell you that he is going to be a top-ranking opponent and I’m very excited to get a fight and especially fight this man. Pettis would be good.”
The reason Taisumov mentioned Anthony Pettis is because of rumors that have been swirling. Word making rounds is that the Russian will do battle with the former UFC lightweight champion. Taisumov didn’t confirm the match-up, but he did admit it’s a fight he would like to have.
“It would be a dream fight for me. It would be amazing for me and I hope it happens. Pettis is one of the best strikers and I really want to fight guys like him and test myself.”
Taisumov’s biggest test was supposed to be at UFC 203. He was scheduled to fight Nik Lentz. Visa issues forced “Beckan” off the card. Taisumov is hoping to get that situation cleared as soon as possible.
“I’m a guy that wants to fight all the time and I’m always in good shape. I didn’t want to spent this time out, but I didn’t get my visa for the U.S. so now I’ve been waiting around longer than ever to get a fight. It’s all happened because of these visas and I hope now it is all sorted and I can fight in America. My lawyer is now working on it and I’m hopeful that he has now got it all done.”
