Undefeated No. 1-ranked lightweight contender Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov will face off with red hot No. 2-ranked Tony Ferguson in the co-main event of March 4’s UFC 209 from Las Vegas, Nevada with the interim lightweight title hanging in the balance. The winner is hoping to land a bout with 155-pound king Conor McGregor.
Recently speaking at a Q&A event (Via MMAFighting.com) in his home country, “The Eagle” said that McGregor has not been loyal and that he has disrespected the UFC:
“I think if Conor has one fan, I have 20 times more fans than him,” he said at the National Restaurant and Night Club. “I think UFC has to make plans a little bit, because this chicken is not loyal. If you remember, the first time he fought in the UFC, and he talked like, ‘$50K baby,’ something like this. He asked Dana please give me $50K. The UFC made him. If he had never fought in the UFC, how would he have got like this?
“Now he’s talking about I can fight without the UFC in boxing, you know. For me, this is disrespectful of the UFC.”
Rather than speaking on potential challenges inside the Octagon, McGregor has often expressed interest in a boxing match with retired former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather.
Nurmagomedov doesn’t seem to be too interested in this possibility, however, as he said that he hopes to humble the Irishman:
“I wanted to say to the UFC, I can help these guys,” he said. “We can make the other guy humble, because we remember how he asked for $50,000. Now he talking about he can make this [Mayweather] fight without the UFC. I don’t worry about my PR, because in Dagestan and Russia, I’m a bit worried about how I become popular because before I never feel this pressure. And that’s why I don’t think about this.
“But why not, we can make this guy humble. Smash this guy if the UFC wants.”
Do you expect Nurmagomedov to get by Ferguson and take on McGregor later this year?
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