UFC Matchmaker Says Nurmagomedov Was Offered Interim Title Bout at UFC 217

Khabib Nurmagomedov was the first choice for Tony Ferguson’s opponent. On Oct. 7, Ferguson will take on Kevin Lee for the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight title. The bout will headline UFC 216 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. During a recent episode of the “Watch List,” UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby said […]

Khabib Nurmagomedov was the first choice for Tony Ferguson’s opponent. On Oct. 7, Ferguson will take on Kevin Lee for the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight title. The bout will headline UFC 216 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. During a recent episode of the “Watch List,” UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby said […]

Nurmagomedov Calls For Bout With McGregor in December

Khabib Nurmagomedov is eyeing a December showdown with Conor McGregor. McGregor is coming off a 10th round TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. It was the first boxing bout in the fighting career of “Notorious.” Many expect him to be back inside the Octagon to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight […]

Khabib Nurmagomedov is eyeing a December showdown with Conor McGregor. McGregor is coming off a 10th round TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. It was the first boxing bout in the fighting career of “Notorious.” Many expect him to be back inside the Octagon to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight […]

Khabib Nurmagomedov Calls Out Conor McGregor

It didn’t take long for Khabib Nurmagomedov to call out UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor for a fight in the world famous Octagon. Just a few moments after McGregor was TKO’d in his pro-boxing debut by Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nurmagomedov took to his official Instagram account to lay […]

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It didn’t take long for Khabib Nurmagomedov to call out UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor for a fight in the world famous Octagon. Just a few moments after McGregor was TKO’d in his pro-boxing debut by Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nurmagomedov took to his official Instagram account to lay down the challenge.

Nurmagomedov shared a photo of himself alongside McGregor with arms raised in an Octagon. He wrote in the caption,  Let’s go” tagging the UFC President Dana White. The post also included a possible date for the potential match-up: UFC 219 on December 30th in Las Vegas, NV.

Nurmagomedov has not been seen in the Octagon since UFC 205 last November, which was the same event that McGregor last fought in the UFC before he was able to fight Mayweather. At UFC 205, McGregor made history by becoming the first fighter ever to claim two concurrent UFC championship belts.

On the flip side, Nurmagomedov battered Michael Johnson to set up a number one contender fight with fellow lightweight standout Tony Ferguson. Unfortunately, the two fighters were not able to fight at UFC 209 due to the fact that Nurmagomedov botched his weight-cut.

Following that event, Nurmagomedov has stayed quiet while still maintaining his ranking as #1 in the UFC’s lightweight standings. It was announced last month by White that Ferguson would face the surging Kevin Lee (7th ranked) for the interim lightweight belt.

When the UFC President made that announcement, he also threw out that UFC 216 could be the possible show that Ferguson and Lee would compete on. By looking at the calendar, UFC 216 takes place on October 7th in Las Vegas. It’s likely that the UFC will attempt to match-up the winner of this fight with McGregor.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov Calls out Conor McGregor After Floyd Mayweather TKO Victory

Khabib Nurmagomedov took to Instagram to call out Conor McGregor after the latter lost by technical knockout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday. 
McGregor lasted 10 rounds on his professional boxin…

Khabib Nurmagomedov took to Instagram to call out Conor McGregor after the latter lost by technical knockout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday. 

McGregor lasted 10 rounds on his professional boxing debut, but Khabib wasted no time reminding the Irishman about the challenges still awaiting him back in the Octagon:

            

This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available.

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Kevin Lee Blasts Khabib Nurmagomedov For Refusing To Fight Him

UFC President Dana White has confirmed that an interim title fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee has been booked for UFC 216. In terms of how this bout got booked, Lee has an idea and revealed it during a recent appearance on MMAJunkie Radio. According to Lee, the UFC called him and offered this […]

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UFC President Dana White has confirmed that an interim title fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee has been booked for UFC 216. In terms of how this bout got booked, Lee has an idea and revealed it during a recent appearance on MMAJunkie Radio.

According to Lee, the UFC called him and offered this fight, which he accepted. In regards to how he got the opportunity over Khabib Nurmagomedov, Lee went off on Nurmagomedov for not fighting him.

“We can cut the (expletive) – (Nurmagomedov’s) just being a (expletive) about it,” Lee (16-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) today told MMAjunkie Radio. “He just doesn’t want to fight. Bottom line, he doesn’t want to fight. He wants to hold onto that imaginary zero that he’s got.”

Ferguson gets his second chance to win an interim UFC title. If you recall, he was supposed to fight Nurmagomedov for the belt at UFC 209 before Nurmagomedov was hospitalized after a bad weight-cut.

Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, would not comment on the reason as to why his client would not take the fight. According to Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov will fight the winner of Lee vs. Ferguson and then unify the title against champ Conor McGregor.

“I think he should focus on Tony,”Abdelaziz said. “He shouldn’t even care about Khabib.”

On the other side, Lee thinks that making the weight is still a problem for the undefeated lightweight fighter. It’s a good point considering that weight cut issues did cancel his bout against Ferguson at UFC 209.

“I’m bigger than Khabib,” Lee said. “You stand me next to him – I’m 186 pounds right now, and I’m going to make the weight. I usually start at 188, 189.”

“Everybody knows – if you ask any fighter in this division, Tony is the toughest fight in this division,” Lee said. “Hands down. To me, he’s the real champ. You can say McGregor’s the champ, because he’s that on paper. But the man only has one fight. Tony’s got 11, 12? He’s already got double-digit fights in the (UFC’s) lightweight division. I’m (going to expletive) Tony Ferguson up,” Lee said. “There’s a reason why none of these dudes put my name in their mouth.”

UFC 216 is set to take place on October 7th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The preliminary card will air on the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, as well as FOX Sports 1. The main card will be broadcasted on PPV. The co-main event for the upcoming show has yet to be officially announced.

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Quote: Khabib Is Popular In Russia Because Of Conor McGregor

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will obviously take on Floyd Mayweather in the biggest combat sports spectacle of all-time when the two polarizing stars meet in a boxing ring in Las Vegas next Saturday, August 26, 2017. But no matter what happens there, McGregor and his team have teased a return to the octagon before […]

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UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will obviously take on Floyd Mayweather in the biggest combat sports spectacle of all-time when the two polarizing stars meet in a boxing ring in Las Vegas next Saturday, August 26, 2017.

But no matter what happens there, McGregor and his team have teased a return to the octagon before the end of the year, and that return has even rumored to be against decorated but oft-injured No. 1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, and even in “The Egle’s” home of Russia. While that’s unlikely to happen logistically, it’s a huge fight that would arguably burst the seams of a UFC pay-per-view wallet that’s been noticeably thin in 2017.

If it did happen, however, McGregor’s close friend and training partner Artem Lobov, who hails from Russia himself, isn’t convinced of whom would be the more popular fighter in Russia. He recently told MMA Fighting that McGregor has already had a big impact in MMA become mainstream in the fight-centered country:

“When I talk to Russian fighters when I’m over there they are very thankful and complimentary of Conor,” Lobov said. “They see him as one of the main factors behind MMA becoming mainstream in Russia. The pay for most fighters has increased as the popularity of MMA has increased. They are definitely feeling the McGregor effect in the East.”

As for the potential fight between the two, Lobov isn’t certain Khabib would actually be the bigger draw in his homeland. In fact, he thinks Khabib has found the popularity he has in Russia because of McGregor

“It would be very hard to say who would be the bigger draw in Russia between Khabib and Conor. I honestly feel that Khabib is as big as he is in Russia because of Conor McGregor,” Lobov said.

“As I said, Conor is the guy who has made MMA a hot topic in Russia. More and more Russians started watching the UFC when Conor came along. The more they watched, the more they understood it. Then, all of a sudden you get this Russian guy coming along and of course the Russian people put their support behind him.”

Lobov elaborated on the strong stance, noting that the notoriously tough Russia people have noticed the constant pullouts and issues that have limited Khabib to only three fights in the last four years:

“A lot of people in Russian aren’t happy with how Khabib has been behaving with all of his pullouts,” Lobov said, “This isn’t a very manly thing to do, not showing up for a fight. In Russia, the people have been brought up tough. It used to be the Soviet Union. The thing everybody thinks of when they think about Russia is how tough the people are.

“When they see a fighter continuously pulling out, that’s something that they really don’t like. Then they look at a guy like Conor who always shows up and does what he says he’s going to do. That really resonates with the Russian public.”

So if the fight ever did happen in Russia, Lobov believes there would be overwhelming support for McGregor, perhaps even more than for Khabib when taking all the Irish fans that would travel to the event:

“There would be a lot of support for Conor. If you factor in the Irish that would travel over, there might be even more people supporting Conor at the event even though it would be taking place in Russia.”

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