Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Did the UFC purposely avoid matching Conor McGregor up against more worthy contenders in his MMA return?
Khabib Nurmagomedov thinks that UFC’s plan to get people talking about Conor McGregor again has worked after the Irishman’s 40-second KO over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246.
Nurmagomedov explained why he thinks the UFC purposely matched up McGregor against Cerrone over other clear contenders, as it was all part of their plan for the ‘Notorious’ one to get back in the win column and his name to be thrown back into the title mix again.
Talking to RT Sport, Khabib explained why the UFC does a good job of appealing to a lay audience of MMA fans.
“Millions of people watch, but there aren’t a million fighters. There are 300, 400, 500 that fight in the UFC. They have trainers, so let’s say 10,000 people that know MMA. They see who loses and under what circumstances, what moves, when he fought, where he fought, what organization. Few people know those details, others just don’t care who’s fighting and how, who he fought in the past, who the opponent is, they don’t know anything. They just watch the fight. And UFC works very well with that.
“So they picked him [Cerrone] and their plan worked and people started to talk about it again, about a rematch and other stuff. Cerrone lost seven out of his last 10 fights. A man comes out 10 times and loses seven, and he gets called a legend. Well, let him be a legend, but his time is up.” (Transcription via BJ Penn)
Nurmagomedov and McGregor fought back at UFC 229 in October 2018, when Khabib won by fourth-round submission. The lightweight champ thinks the UFC easily could have matched McGregor up against more worthy contenders such as Justin Gaethje, but ultimately they went with Cerrone as it suited McGregor better.
“There are other fighters who’ve proven themselves with their status, their convincing victories. There are other contenders, but [the UFC] went another route, one that’s more suitable for the media, the people, but one that makes no sense to experts.”