Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammate Luke Rockhold spoke about the disastrous UFC 209 weight cut.
Luke Rockhold recently spoke out about how Georges St-Pierre’s return puts a hold on the entire middleweight division. On the same appearance with Submission Radio, the former champion also spoke about his teammate, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s disastrous weight cut that forced him out at UFC 209.
“The weight cut wasn’t going very well,” Rockhold explained. “Khabib was complaining about a pain in the side and we had to cut short the weight cut, and sure enough, I guess it got worse overnight and he had to go the hospital.
“(It’s) Unfortunate. That was the fight I was really looking forward to for Khabib and it’s been a long time working with that man and I know he’s put in the time and the effort and deserved it, so it just sucks.
“From what I understand he wasn’t getting any blood to his liver and something went wrong with the weight cut,” Rockhold continued. “It was very similar to his last fight from what I understand and just something went wrong. You never know with these weight cuts I guess. But I think he’s ready to go and we can rebook that thing.”
Rockhold believes that despite the match up falling through for the third time, the UFC should rebook the fight as soon as possible.
“I don’t think it should take much time. I think he’s hungry, I think he’s ready,” he said. “What other choice do you have? Khabib is undefeated, he’s beaten everybody, he’s done more than anybody. You can’t take that fight away, you can’t take the title away. It just needs to be rebooked. I think it should be rebooked as soon as possible”
Other fighters have gave their thoughts on Khabib’s situation as well, with Rockhold’s former opponent in Michael Bisping saying that pulling out of UFC 209 probably eliminated any chance Khabib faces Conor McGregor for the belt.