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Usman Nurmagomedov outclassed Alfie Davis before submitting the Briton in the third round to retain his PFL lightweight title in Dubai.

Russia’s Nurmagomedov marched Davis down throughout, attacking with an array of kicks, before securing a key takedown midway through the fight and putting him to sleep with an unorthodox arm triangle choke.

The win extends 27-year-old Nurmagomedov’s unbeaten record to 22 fights and marks his fifth world title defence.

Davis, 33, won the PFL’s lightweight tournament last year to earn the title shot but was a big underdog in the fight and rarely looked as if he would trouble Nurmagomedov.

“I won how I planned, I made him tired, I made him work, I made him grapple and the win was going to come,” said Nurmagomedov.

“Thank you for my father, he is here with me. Everything I have in this life is from him.”

Davis came into the fight following his win over Nurmagomedov’s team-mate Gadzhi Rabadanov in August and he carried the confidence he earned from that contest into the title bout.

Watching Davis at cage-side was two-time heavyweight boxing world champion Anthony Joshua, who was making one of his first public appearances since taking time away from the spotlight after being involved in a car crash in December.

In contrast to Davis, Nurmagomedov wore a stern, focused expression as he made his walkout, flanked by coach, cousin and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov and two-division UFC champion Islam Makhachev.

Davis embraced the boos from fans as he was introduced before the fight, who chanted ‘Usman Usman’ when the contest got under way.

From the moment the bell rang, Nurmagomedov stalked Davis, attacking with leg and high kicks, while Davis searched for opportunities to counter.

Davis maintained his confidence in the face of Usman’s suffocating presence, jiving and weaving before throwing strikes but failed to land anything of note that hurt the Russian.

Nurmagomedov showed his evasiveness and he dodged a spectacular spinning back-kick from Davis, before proving his advantage in the grappling as he secured multiple takedowns.

In his post-fight interview Nurmagomedov, who is regarded as one of the best fighters outside the UFC, made no mention of possible opponents he would like to face next.

Other than a trilogy fight with Irishman Paul Hughes, who lost on points to Nurmagomedov in two close five-round fights last year, there are no standout contenders.

Another option for Nurmagomedov could be Rabadanov, but it is rare for fighters who train at the same gym to fight each other.

The most enticing fight for Davis next is also Hughes, who has not competed since defeat by Nurmagomedov in October.

Davis will not be able to defend his 2025 tournament crown because the PFL is not continuing the format in 2026.

Earlier on the card, Britain’s Luke Trainer submitted Australia’s Rob Wilkinson in the first round of their light-heavyweight bout via a guillotine choke.

Victory ended a 17-month absence for 29-year-old Trainer as he earned his fifth straight win.

Fellow Briton Haider Khan was on the wrong side of a guillotine choke as he suffered a first-round defeat by Brazil’s Jhony Gregory in their middleweight bout.

Whether it was a deliberate, pointed pick, we’ll never know.

But as Wales’ replacements jogged out ahead of their team for the start of the second half, the Allianz Stadium DJ launched into the Kaiser Chiefs’ noughties shout-a-along I Predict a Riot.

At 29-0 up, it wasn’t the boldest forecast.

And in the end, Wales showed enough fight and quality to prevent England vandalising their national pride as they did in Cardiff last March.

But, by any measure, England’s 48-7 win was a walloping.

Ball in hand, they made nearly twice the metres of the visitors.

Wales were spinning like tops in defence, chasing back after 16 line-breaks. The visitors made only six in the opposite direction.

England had almost 60% of territory. By 25 minutes in, Wales had a decimal point of hope. At best.

Afterwards, England head coach Steve Borthwick thought the scoreline stat should have been even more lopsided in England’s favour.

“I thought we defended exceptionally well, we kicked really well and we scored some nice tries, but I think we left a lot out there on the grass.,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We’ll review this game and say there’s a load of things we could do a lot better. Those are the things we need to step up next week.

“Second half we were in the 22 a lot but didn’t come away with points on as many occasions as we’d have liked.”

Ultimately, England made enough stick to the scoreboard to sit atop the Six Nations table after round one.

More interesting than the early-stage standings to Borthwick will be the lessons, albeit limited and caveated by the quality of the opposition, that he can take.

Henry Arundell, all low-slung power and top-end speed, inevitably took the headlines after helping himself to a first-half hat-trick.

The 23-year-old, who, as a teenager, scored a try with his first touch of the ball in the Test game, has a sky-high international strike-rate.

In 12 Tests, he has 11 tries.

That stat is inflated by his five against Chile in the last Rugby World Cup, as well as Saturday’s work, but his ability to turn a half-break into a full five points is precious.

When Fraser Dingwall scooped up and shovelled the ball to him for England’s fourth try of the afternoon, the cover was instantly blow-torched.

Arundell’s improvement under the high ball this season – most notably in Bath’s win over Saracens opposite Noah Caluori – and defence, are qualities that have been coached into him. His fast-twitch physicality, though, is an ability beyond anyone’s gift.

Ollie Chessum is unlikely to see his name up in the same lights, but, with Maro Itoje starting the game on the bench, the second row filled any void with a performance containing more lungs and heart than a matchday burger.

Ben Earl has made excellence his everyday. For someone who is not a natural number eight, he is also up there as the world’s best in the position.

The 28-year-old, who has played more of his rugby at open-side flanker, made 17 carries and 78 metres, while also finishing joint top of the tackle stats with Guy Pepper and nicking a turnover.

Henry Pollock’s energy makes him an ideal and wildly popular second-half introduction. Would his pace and breakdown poaching ability be as effective from the start? After six appearances off the bench, might Borthwick be tempted to find out?

The most intriguing issue, though, as England roll on towards Edinburgh is Tommy Freeman.

He had a fine game in many ways, a physical, pacy presence at outside centre, who dovetailed predictably well with Northampton team-mate Dingwall. He was England’s leading metre-maker by a distance.

Freeman’s superb aerial ability is less useful in midfield, while his head-down finishing ability came to the fore best when he was shifted back to the wing late on, pinballing through tackles as he dunked down England’s seventh and final try.

His midfield move, started a year ago, was prompted by a lack of other options.

Now, with Ollie Lawrence back from an Achilles tendon tear, Dingwall impressing again at 12, Max Ojomoh and Seb Atkinson in the equation and Joe Marchant and Benhard Janse van Rensburg approaching eligibility, the centre cupboard looks less bare.

Sometimes courage is needed to see a plan though. Conversely, sometimes wisdom is needed to know when to change one.

Freeman’s centre role feels like one to preserve with for now, but not blindly.

George Brown scored two tries on his debut as Leeds Rhinos saw off a fierce challenge from Widnes Vikings to win 25-12 at the DCBL Stadium and reach the fourth round of the Challenge Cup.

The 18-year-old full-back was handed his bow after impressing in pre-season and took just seven minutes to get on the scoresheet, with Kallum Watkins converting, although winger Mike Butt’s try and a Jordan Abdull two-pointer levelled it up.

Leeds looked like easing away with the tie, as Watkins kicked a penalty and another debutant, former Canberra Raiders hooker Danny Levi, added another try, before Brown’s second had the Super League club 18-6 up at half-time.

Vikings hit back as Joe Lyons sent Butt over for his second try, but Riley Lumb’s brilliant solo try, Watkins’ conversion, and Brodie Croft’s drop-goal made sure Leeds would be in the hat.

Castleford Tigers eased into the draw for the fourth round with a 14-0 victory at Championship side Doncaster.

The Super League side were held in a tight first quarter, but Joe Stimson made the breakthrough and Tom Weaver’s conversion had them ahead at the interval.

Doncaster survived the sin-binning of Titus Gwaze for interference at the play-the-ball, but Tigers full-back Blake Taaffe added another try, and with Weaver kicking the extras and a penalty, they coasted to the finish line with no real alarm.

Super League newcomers York City Knights scored seven tries against old Championship rivals Barrow Raiders, as Australian utility player Nikau Williams marked his return to the club with 10 points in a 32-6 win at North Wales Crusaders.

Samoa international Toa Mata’afa and Williams, who scored 10 tries in his first spell at the club two years ago, put York in charge but Barrow’s Greg Richards and Knights’ Paul McShane were red-carded following a brawl.

Luke Cresswell hit back with a Raiders try but Jack Martin’s instant reply and Liam Harris’ successful conversion – his only one out of five attempts – made it 14-6 at half-time to the visitors.

Williams danced through for his second try and later added a conversion, Jesse Dee and Oli Field added one each, and Paul Vaughan scored his first try since his move from Warrington Wolves to make it an emphatic win.

Leigh Leopards made it a clean sweep for the Super League clubs with 11 tries in a 60-6 win in front of North Wales Crusaders‘ record attendance of 1,899 at Eirias Stadium in Colwyn Bay.

Josh Charnley began what could be his final season in rugby league with two tries, with Edwin Ipape and Lachlan Lam also claiming doubles.

Tries from Owen Trout, Ipape, Jacob Alick-Wiencke and Charnley had Leigh 18-6 up at half-time, and they ran away with it after the break as Charnley and Ipape added their second trie, and Keanan Brand, Frankie Halton, Lam’s quick double and Andrew Badrock all got in on the act. Adam Cook added eight conversions.

For the first time since before Christmas, just three points will separate the teams in 17th and 18th at the end of a Premier League weekend.

West Ham’s 2-0 victory at Burnley has at last dragged them to within touching distance of Nottingham Forest again, with the Hammers enjoying a mid-season renaissance by winning three of their past four matches.

While Wolves and Burnley are cut completely adrift, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team are seemingly keeping the relegation battle alive single-handedly.

There have only been 10 occasions since the Premier League was formed in 1992-93 that the fight for survival has not gone down to the final day – although five of those have occurred in the last decade.

So after some damp squibs in recent years, are we set for an unusually exciting end to the campaign at the bottom of the table?

While Wolves are not mathematically down yet, they are propping up the table on a meagre eight points from 25 matches and sports analytics and data experts Opta rank their chances of relegation as 99.99%.

That also effectively means the West Midlands club are in a scrap to avoid the unwanted record of winning the fewest points in a single Premier League campaign, currently held by Derby, who managed just 11 in 2007-08.

Meanwhile, Burnley’s loss to the Hammers means there is a 99.4% chance they will spend next term in the second tier of English football.

There was an air of frustration around Turf Moor on Saturday with the home fans castigating the players and calling for Scott Parker’s dismissal as boss after watching their team fail to win for a 16th consecutive match.

“Whether we fail or we don’t fail, we come through this for sure,” said Parker.

Hammers boss Nuno said his side “are still in the same situation” and called on them to “focus on” themselves after winning in Lancashire.

But are they?

Having gone 10 Premier League matches without a win, West Ham appear to have built some momentum from Callum Wilson’s dramatic late goal at Tottenham on 17 January.

And they will feel they can tackle their remaining 13 games with renewed optimism despite being ranked with a 75.77% chance of going down, with Nuno also having the experience of guiding Nottingham Forest to safety on the final day of the 2023-24 campaign.

“West Ham look more like a Nuno team over the last few weeks,” said former Liverpool and England midfielder Danny Murphy, who is a pundit on Saturday’s Match of the Day.

“They have won three out of four and have all the momentum. Crysencio Summerville is playing out of his skin and Jarrod Bowen is always going to chip in, plus they’ve signed two strikers.

“All of a sudden they look like a team that can score goals and that means you don’t have to rely so heavily on keeping them out the other end.

While Forest are just three points above West Ham in 17th, Sean Dyche will hope his side has the quality to pull clear having spent around £200m on players over the last 12 months.

Opta rank the two-time champions of Europe as having a 15.3% chance of being relegated and it is likely Dyche will have to juggle his resources due to the club’s continued involvement in the Europa League, where they are due to face Fenerbahce in the knockout play-offs for the last 16.

“Too many times recently, I’ve seen Nottingham Forest look passive,” said Murphy.

“Whether that’s legginess from the amount of games in which Sean Dyche has had to play the same players. He gave fringe players the chance to stake their claim against Wrexham and they didn’t take it, so he’s had to pick the same eight or nine week in week out.

“I’ve done it myself and it’s hard trying to play every few days and playing to your best, especially under pressure of relegation. Plus, they are trying to manage Europe as well.”

Crystal Palace, who travel to Brighton on Sunday, appear to be in disarray after the departure of captain Marc Guehi and manager Oliver Glasner’s confirmation he will be leaving the club at the end of the season.

Tottenham have also taken just four of the past 21 points available and have not won a top-flight game since the start of the year.

“Palace have got a scrap on their hands as confidence is draining,” added Murphy.

“I’m like the majority and think Tottenham will be OK even though the results don’t say it. Their squad and the quality they’ve got will come good and they will get enough points.

“Leeds, for me, are the ones who will be safe given the way they have played in the last two or three months. They have some really nice momentum. And we all know about the Elland Road factor, which is huge.