UFC 160: What We Learned from Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Abel Trujillo

In what could have been seen as the lightweight division's equivalent of Alexander Gustafsson vs. Phil Davis, Abel Trujillo and Khabib Nurmagomedov, two of the fastest-rising fighters in the division, squared off in in the FX portion of UFC 160.

Trujillo had the MMA media abuzz with his impressive UFC debut, when he knocked out Marcus LeVasseur. Nurmagomedov is no slouch himself and has racked up a perfect 3-0 record in the UFC so far, with each win being more impressive than the last.

When the two met in the cage, Nurmagomedov used his grappling superiority to control Trujillo en route to a simple decision win. So what did we learn from this bout?

Khabib Nurmagomedov is Really Good

Now 4-0 in his UFC career and 20-0 in his MMA career, Nurmagomedov is looking like somebody who will challenge for the belt in the near future. He will likely enter the UFC's official Top 10 rankings in the next few days.

All four of his fights in the UFC thus far have seen him demolish his competition. He knocked out Kamal Shalorus and Thiago Tavares, dominated Gleison Tibau and just made Abel Trujillo look like an amateur.

The sky is the limit for this talented Russian.

Abel Trujillo Needs to Work on His Grappling

Pretty straightforward thing here. While Trujillo pulled off some crafty sweeps early in the first round, it became obvious that he was not on the same level as Nurmagomedov down the stretch.

He got exhausted and frustrated in the third round, and you can't blame him for that. Regardless, there's no question that he needs to work on his grappling if he wants to have a lengthy UFC career.

The UFC Wants to Groom Nurmagomedov

With his previous three wins, Nurmagomedov could have found himself fighting a top-15 opponent on Saturday night instead of a guy coming into his second UFC fight. Loads of lightweights would probably love to derail his hype train.

But when Joe Silva was picking guys to fight each other, he chose to pit him against a prospect rather than an established fighter. The UFC is clearly trying to groom Nurmagomedov for a title shot.

Again, he could have met Joe Lauzon or Evan Dunham at UFC 160. The UFC, though, is putting him on the path walked by Lyoto Machida, not John Moraga. That tends to be for the best.

Snowden Was Right About What the UFC Can Learn from Boxing 

If you haven't seen the article, check it out here.

Just a week ago, the UFC had three electrifying, fast-rising prospects in the lightweight division in Rafael dos Anjos, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Abel Trujillo. Now just one of them is left in Nurmagomedov. Bleacher Report MMA Lead Writer Jonathan Snowden had this to say:

"

Take, for example, the 2010 fight between then-25-year-old wrestling star Phil Davis and then-23-year-old Swedish striker Alexander Gustafsson. In boxing, these two prospects would have been on parallel paths, learning and developing at the same time. When and if they met, it would be in a fight that mattered, sometime well down the line.

In MMA, they met up in what was just the second UFC fight for both young fighters. Davis got the better of Gustafsson that day, meaning before he'd ever had the chance to shine, a young prospect  faced a very public and very bitter defeat. That fight should have never happened—and it wouldn't have in boxing.

"

Spot on, Snowden.