Khabib Nurmagomedov believes the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has to make an effort to humble their top-drawing athlete. McGregor made headlines for all the wrong reasons following an incident at Bellator 187. The UFC lightweight champion was i…
Khabib Nurmagomedov believes the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has to make an effort to humble their top-drawing athlete. McGregor made headlines for all the wrong reasons following an incident at Bellator 187. The UFC lightweight champion was in attendance to cheer on his teammate Charlie Ward. McGregor was not in Ward’s corner, but rather a […]
It’s been well documented by now that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor made a scene while in attendance for Bellator 187. At the event, he made a surprise return to the cage after his friend Charlie Ward’s victory over John Redmond by jumping the fence to celebrate. This is when things went sideways as McGregor […]
It’s been well documented by now that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor made a scene while in attendance for Bellator 187.
At the event, he made a surprise return to the cage after his friend Charlie Ward’s victory over John Redmond by jumping the fence to celebrate.
This is when things went sideways as McGregor was told to leave the cage by referee Marc Goddard which led to an altercation between the referee and McGregor. This led to McGregor shoving the referee.
After the incident, the UFC champion issued an apology for his actions and what it turned into. There have been several fighters who have spoken about the incident and what the UFC needs to do to McGregor as a punishment.
Khabib Nurmagomedov believes that the promotion needs to “humble” McGregor for attacking a referee.
The title contender recently appeared on the Talk and Talker podcast (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting) to talk about the incident. He believes that once McGregor began going after Goddard, he crossed the line.
“My very good friend fought for a big organization in Europe at 57 kgs, 125 [pounds]. When he win, I do same s**t. I come inside and I hold him because I’m very happy. I’m jumping on the cage, I come inside. A lot of people come inside, my friends, my teammates, because we’re very happy but when referee tells me, ‘Hey, you guys have to go out,’ I don’t try to fight with him because I know referee is not professional fighter, he’s referee. I have to respect rules. But I go crazy a little bit after I understand, ‘Hey, this is not good. I have to stop this,’ and I try to tell my friends, my teammates that we have to go out.
“Sometimes this happens and this organization disqualification 30 percent of his money, but it’s okay. It’s okay. This organization has rules and when we come to the organization we have to follow this. We have to follow rules. So sometimes this happens but I don’t understand why he tried to fight with referee. I don’t understand it.
“One time, if you try with him it’s okay but you see these guys don’t want fight with you and he cannot fight with you. Why would you try more and more? I don’t understand this one. When you come to inside the cage because you’re very happy about your friend’s win, it’s okay but try to fight with referee, this is not good.”
Keep in mind that the UFC champion does have some history with Goddard. If you recall, he was the official who ordered McGregor to leave cageside because of his antics during Artem Lobov’s fight with Andre Filli at UFC Gdansk.
Also, this isn’t the first time that McGregor has jumped the fence into the cage during an event as he did it during Lobov’s win on The Ultimate Fighter by jumping into the cage and ripping his pants.
“Yes, it’s okay, but not all the time. He does this all the time. In Ultimate Fighter show, in Bellator show, I don’t understand why he can do but other guys cannot do. Because he’s Conor McGregor? He cannot do this. The UFC has to make him humble a little bit because other guys say, ‘Oh, Conor do this? He can do this but why I not?’ This is why sometimes you have to follow rules when you’re a big name, because a lot of people are watching you.
“When you jump inside the ring, okay, but when you try to fight with referee, this is not good. Why he don’t slap me when we go very close like UFC 205? Because he understands I don’t stop. Maybe he slaps him because he understands he’s not fighter, he cannot give him back.
“I never slap somebody if this guy cannot fight with me. . . You cannot fight with me. I can kill you. I can punch you and I can take you down and smash your face. You have to stay relaxed. Sometimes you have to say this because you’re a professional athlete and you can kill people.”
Somehow, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) lightweight division got even more interesting. On Dec. 30, Khabib Nurmagomedov will return to action to take on Edson Barboza. The bout will be held inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’ll be part of the main card of UFC 219. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed the news […]
Somehow, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) lightweight division got even more interesting. On Dec. 30, Khabib Nurmagomedov will return to action to take on Edson Barboza. The bout will be held inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’ll be part of the main card of UFC 219. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed the news […]
Top-ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov may have wanted to reschedule his interim title bout with Tony Ferguson for his long-awaited return, but apparently, the UFC has other plans. No. 3-ranked Edson Barboza just revealed during a Q&A session at this weekend’s UFC Sao Paulo (via MMA Fighting) that he is supposedly taking on Nurmagomedov at December […]
Top-ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov may have wanted to reschedule his interim title bout with Tony Ferguson for his long-awaited return, but apparently, the UFC has other plans.
No. 3-ranked Edson Barboza just revealed during a Q&A session at this weekend’s UFC Sao Paulo (via MMA Fighting) that he is supposedly taking on Nurmagomedov at December 30’s UFC 219 pay-per-view (PPV) event from Las Vegas:
“I just got the news a few minutes ago that my next fight will be on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas against Khabib Nurmagomedov. I’m really happy with this opportunity. It’s going to be a war.”
The UFC has not yet made the bout official.
Nurmagomedov has been out of action since stopping longtime contender Michael Johnson at last November’s UFC 205. He was scheduled to take on Ferguson for the interim lightweight belt at March’s UFC 209, but some serious issues with his weight cut left him out of action for the entirety of 2017 thus far.
Out of action dealing with injuries since his “Knockout of the Year” candidate versus Beneil Dariush last March, Barboza has won three straight bouts since losing to Ferguson in an all-out battle in late 2015, making his potential match-up with Nurmagomedov a clear title eliminator.
That is, in a UFC division where Conor McGregor isn’t the champ.
The UFC lightweight division is still just waiting for UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor to return and defend his title. UFC President Dana White continues to say that McGregor will defend the title against Tony Ferguson, who won the interim title earlier this month after submitting Kevin Lee at UFC 216. However, the UFC champion […]
The UFC lightweight division is still just waiting for UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor to return and defend his title.
UFC President Dana White continues to say that McGregor will defend the title against Tony Ferguson, who won the interim title earlier this month after submitting Kevin Lee at UFC 216.
However, the UFC champion has options on the table as he could compete in a boxing match with Paulie Malignaggi or take a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz.
In terms of contenders in the lightweight division, you have Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje. They are set to square off Dec. 2 at UFC 218.
Now, another booking of top contenders could be close to being made official. Earlier this week, Edson Barboza said during an Instagram Live stream that he’s accepted an offer from the UFC to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 219.
“They offered me this fight, and I accepted it,” Barboza said, via MMAFighting.com. “I said I’ll be ready for December 30th, and it’s on him now. We’ll see what he does. I saw an interview with him yesterday, and he said he’ll fight me if Conor fights Ferguson, and (UFC President) Dana (White) already said that fight will happen, so I believe my next fight will be against Khabib.”
Barboza has now recovered from shoulder surgery. If you recall, he told MMAjunkie earlier this month that a fight with Nurmagomedov makes sense. Barboza has won three straight and is coming off a flying-knee knockout of Beneil Dariush in March at UFC Fight Night 106.
“He’s definitely one of the best in the division,” Barboza told MMAjunkie. “I think this fight really makes sense for me. I’m ready. If the UFC books this fight, I’m ready.”
UFC 219 is set to take place on December 30, 2017, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The promotion has yet to announce the main event for this show. The main card will air on pay-per-view while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
Top-ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov has been out of action since last November’s UFC 205, but ‘The Eagle’ is finally healed up from his latest set of ailments and looking to return to the Octagon. The brutalizing grappler was set to take on current interim champion Tony Ferguson for the second-place title at March’s UFC […]
Top-ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov has been out of action since last November’s UFC 205, but ‘The Eagle’ is finally healed up from his latest set of ailments and looking to return to the Octagon.
The brutalizing grappler was set to take on current interim champion Tony Ferguson for the second-place title at March’s UFC 209, but a failed weight cut forced him out of the bout and into the hospital. He was reportedly offered yet another booking versus Ferguson at October 7’s UFC 216, but the lasting effects of the draining cut coupled with a back surgery left him unable to compete yet again.
So Ferguson fought Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight title instead, and despite a harrowingly difficult weight cut of his own, ‘The Motown Phenom’ was able to use his size and strength to ground Ferguson and rain down some significant damage in the first two rounds. In the third, however, Lee clearly tired from the staph infection that had plagued his cut and succumbed to a triangle choke from Ferguson.
Nurmagomedov is back making the media rounds, and he told Ariel Helwani on this week’s episode of “The MMA Hour” that Lee lost the fight because he fought like a ‘chicken’ and ‘gave up’:
“I think [Ferguson] won because Kevin Lee was fighting with him like chicken. That’s why he won. [Lee] talked too much. He was not focused on the fight; he was focused on, I think, promoting the fight. When the fight was beginning, first round, [Lee] beat [Ferguson], and second round, [Lee] stayed with him in his distance, he ate a lot of jabs, and third round, he gave up, because he doesn’t have conditioning. That’s why.”
Photo Credit: Joshua Dahl for USA TODAY Sports
There’s no doubting Lee did gas at UFC 216, as he admitted as much in between the second and third rounds. Khabib believes this would never happen to him, and the gameplan to beating a rangy, unorthodox striker like Ferguson is to get in his face and take him down, something that Lee was having success with early.
The difference according to ‘The Eagle’ is that he will never tire nor get submitted, a belief he insisted his AKA teammates Daniel Cormier and Luke Rockhold would attest to:
“(Rafael) dos Anjos and Kevin Lee fought with him at his distance. That’s why these guys [lost to] him,” Nurmagomedov said. “But what happens if Ferguson fights a fighter like me, who all the time tries to take him down, smash him on the ground, and never, never stop? All my life, in my amateur career, professional 24 fights, I never tire. Never, ever. In training, amateur fights, and professional fights, I never get tired.
“All my life, I never tire, I never lose, and I never give up. In training, in amateur fights, in professional fights, I’ve never given up. Never. Nobody has choked me, nobody has submitted me. Never, ever, in all my life. I’m training with a lot of fighters from different weight classes — heavyweight, welterweight, lightweight. You can ask ‘DC,’ you can ask Luke Rockhold, all fighters: I never give up and I never get tired. This is what I want to say about this.”
Few doubt Nurmagomedov’s sheer grappling advantage over any lightweight in MMA right now, but the 24-0 Dagestani’s problems have always been outside of the cage, as a long list of injuries and weight-cutting issues have limited him to just two fights in the last three years.
But in spite of those problems, he believes he’s in a similar spot as to where he was at around this time last year, where he beat Michael Johnson handily at UFC 205 and was headed for a bout with Ferguson to find out who would fight Conor McGregor for the title. He’s confident he can get both fights, but admitted he needs to keep his weight in check more this time around:
“It’s a very tough sport. Nobody knows (what happens behind the scenes).
“Last time when I had to fight with Tony, I thought, ‘I’m confident 100 percent the fight will happen, and I have to beat Tony to take the belt, and then at the end of the year I’m going to fight with Conor.’ But everybody knows what happened. And now I have the same feeling. I have the same feeling, and next time I have to stay a little bit careful, more control my weight, more control my health and my everything.”
