Usman Nurmagomedov is a free agent as PFL window ends; team wants Topuria

The UFC no longer has a contractual reason to wait. Usman Nurmagomedov's exclusive negotiating period with the PFL is over, and Dana White has already said what happens next: the UFC will start talking to him. No talks and no deal have been reported.

White was asked at the UFC 333 post-fight press conference in Abu Dhabi, where Nurmagomedov was sitting cageside. He said he did not know where the fighter stood on his contract, and that he had said a couple of days earlier that the UFC would talk once he could negotiate. He also told fans not to read much into the attendance.

The money explains how Nurmagomedov got here. The last fight on his PFL deal was a first-round knockout of Archie Colgan at PFL New York in July. According to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, the PFL passed on re-signing him before that fight once it saw the figure he wanted, then offered $2 million after it. Nurmagomedov turned that down because he wants more. He does not appear to have re-signed with the PFL.

His team is already pitching the debut. Abdelaziz's camp wants Ilia Topuria, a former champion, with a win earning an immediate title fight. That is the team's proposal; nothing suggests the UFC has agreed to it. Topuria, 29, is a UFC lightweight. Heavy on UFC expects a debut against a top lightweight rather than a title shot, and puts a debut in 2027 if he signs.

The résumé is the reason for the interest. Nurmagomedov is 28 and 22-0 with one no contest, according to Heavy on UFC. He won the Bellator lightweight title in 2022 and became PFL champion, defending it in February with a third-round submission of Alfie Davis. His brother Umar fights for the UFC at bantamweight, and his cousin Khabib is a former UFC lightweight champion.

What to watch now is whether White's words become an offer, and whether the PFL makes another attempt. Nurmagomedov has not said where he will fight next.