After UFC 311, where he lost the zero in his record, Umar Nurmagomedov has been away from action, as his fans are waiting to see when he fights next. Well, his cousin and UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov garnered attention when he hinted that his cousin could come back to fight at the UFC’s maiden event in Qatar. “Main event of the evening. 5 rounds. It’s time to come back, Jr,” ‘The Eagle’ wrote on social media.

However, we had no updates on that front until Dana White‘s team let some information slip. Well, we didn’t really get a definitive answer to the question about Umar Nurmagomedov’s next fight. What happened was a reporter reiterated what Khabib had to say about his cousin’s next fight to Dave Shaw, who filled in for Dana White once again during the UFC Abu Dhabi post-fight presser.

While Dave Shaw claimed that it’s up to the matchmaker, including Dana White, to decide who fights where, he also shared a hint, which appeared to substantiate Khabib Nurmagomedov’s claim about his cousin. Being one of the biggest stars of the Middle Eastern region, Shaw claimed that having Umar Nurmagomedov on the UFC Qatar card “makes a lot of sense.”

“I think it’s reasonable to think it’s possible [that Umar fights in Qatar],” Dave Shaw said during the post-fight presser. “Nothing to report now. It’ll make a lot of sense for a bunch of different reasons. But [it’s] not upto me… back to the War Room. Back to the matchmaking on Tuesday. I’m sure Dana and the rest of the crew will figure that out.”

Well, it seems like Dana White’s team is trying hard to keep things a surprise, but this brings us to another question. Who will Umar Nurmagomedov fight? Surely, he’s just a fight away from getting another title shot, but he may not get to fight a top contender anytime soon. That’s because Merab Dvalishvili will fight Cory Sandhagen next at UFC 320.

So, a Cory Sandhagen rematch may be out of the question. Now, that brings us to the only other fighter who’s in the title scene, Petr Yan. However, the Russian star has no intention of fighting Umar Nurmagomedov. Here’s what he had to say.

Petr Yan snubbed Umar Nurmagomedov for a title shot

Former bantamweight champion Petr Yan put on another clinical performance to score his third consecutive win, and that too, via another unanimous decision. Right after his win, reporters asked him about potentially facing Umar Nurmagomedov next, as he made his intentions clear. With rumors about Khabib’s cousin fighting in Qatar, ‘No Mercy’ appears to have some other plans, which involve a title shot next.

“Right now, I’m not interested in fighting Umar in November in Qatar. I was offered a fight against him in Baku, Azerbaijan. I accepted it; they couldn’t accept it,” Petr Yan stated on the UFC Abu Dhabi post-fight presser. “Then I asked for July, they also couldn’t make it. Right now, I’m only focused on a title shot.” Well, Yan appears to be confident that Merab Dvalishvili will beat Cory Sandhagen, as he seeks to get his revenge on ‘The Machine.’

Well, things appear a bit uncertain right now for Umar Nurmagomedov, but the subtle hints from Dave Shaw do indicate that we’ll see him in action soon. But is it going to be Qatar? Let us know what you think in the comments below.