Khabib Nurmagomedov finally became the UFC lightweight champion by dominating a tough Al Iaquinta (watch full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The bout was the culmination of years of hype surrounding the undefeated “Eagle,” whom many believed would have been champ sooner were it not for his long list of injuries suffered in training, and it was also the culmination of a week full of insanity after Khabib was tasked with literally five potential opponents beginning with longtime rival Tony Ferguson and ending with ‘Ragin’ Al.’
But all is well for the 26-0 Dagestani grappling machine, as he now owns the only 155-pound belt in the world’s biggest MMA promotion and will be headed for a massive fight no matter which direction he goes. Most will want him to face former champion Conor McGregor, with whom he has a monstrous beef bubbling over after their now-infamous run-in this week where McGregor threw a metal dolly through a bus window and was incarcerated on assault charges.
Yet while the fight could legitimately be one of the biggest fights in UFC history, Khabib chose a different route when asked whom he wanted to face next by Karyn Bryant on the UFC 223 post-fight show on FOX Sports 1, calling out legendary former middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in the most respectful way possible:
“To be honest, if they ask me, I wanna take Georges St-Pierre. St-Pierre is greatest athlete to compete in UFC. When I grow up, I watch his fight. When he defend his title in UFC like 10, 11 years ago, I compete in junior Dagestan championship in Combat Sambo.
“You know, can you imagine this? Now we’re here, and we can fight. It’s like crazy. 10, 11 years ago when I was like 19, 18 as a kid, when I watch his fight when I was like his very biggest fan. Now, he talk about how he wanna become UFC lightweight champion; before he was UFC middleweight and welterweight champion. Why not? If he can make, let’s go in New York.”
Now that McGregor’s fighting – and overall – future is uncertain at best, Khabib may be free to fight St-Pierre rather than ‘The Notorious’ when he returns to the cage later this year in November.
“Rush” has stated he can make lightweight, but he’s still recovering from a bout with colitis after the increased food intake he consumed to keep on the mass necessary to fight at middleweight, where he returned to after nearly four years off and choked out Michael Bisping to win the title before vacating the gold hardly a month later.
You’d have to think if St-Pierre was going to put himself through the opposite and cut all the way down to lightweight, it would have been for a fight with the UFC’s biggest star in McGregor.
A match-up with Khabib, however, could start to look like more of an enticing prospect for the all-time legend who has said he only wants the biggest and the best fights.
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