Since Russian grappler, Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed the 155-pound title via unanimous decision win over Al Iaquinta; a plethora of lightweight combatants who have thrown their names in the hat to be Nurmagomedov’s first title defense.
Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez has a little history with undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov, dating back to late 2016 when “The Eagle” was used as a tool in negotiations for Conor McGregor. Later UFC announced that Alvarez would instead defend the title against Irishman. To remind you its the same title Mcgregor won at UFC 205 which makes him holding two titles simultaneously in UFC history.
Now Mcgregor is out of the picture due to his recent legal troubles, so they can finish there unsettle beef unless Tony Ferguson makes a wolverine recovery and convinces UFC president Dana White to change his position on this.
Alvarez was presented with a glorious chance to fight Khabib at UFC 223, but he was unable to follow through on it. ‘The Underground King’ explained that he was too damn heavy to accept the offer. If he was granted more time, it would have been a possibility. Khabib went to fight an 11th ranked fighter Al Iaquinta to capture the gold. However, Khabib got under heavy criticism from fellow fighters and analysis who saw holes in ‘Eagle’s’ boxing.
One fighter Eddie Alvarez who question the legitimacy of Nurmagomedov’s championship win over Al Iaquinta. After so many fighters fall out then UFC choose number 11 ranked fighter Al Iaquinta, in that circumstances shouldn’t have been a title fight, during his interview with “The MMA Hour,”
“If the Philadelphia Eagles show up for the Super Bowl, and New England can’t make it, you don’t bring in the third-place team to play for the Lombardi Trophy. You have to wait and you have be patient. You can’t tell the No. three, four, five guys ‘you get a title shot.’ It just got silly real fast. Everything got silly real fast, and it made the belt quite meaningless.”
“You know what no one’s talking about? Khabib talked about fake champions, fake belts., fake this, fake that, and everything is fake, fake, fake,” Alvarez said. “No one said that they were just begging to give him that belt because they had Russia behind him. Russia is going to be an open market soon, and it’s convenient Khabib has the belt.
“Now the guy who says ‘fake champion, fake belt, fake this,’ he has title now,” Alvarez later added. “They should have just handed it to him, the be honest with you. That’s what it looks like.”
Earlier this month Alvarez claimed that he’s the only guy in UFC who can beat Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Kevin Lee who scores a win over Edson Barboza last weekend at UFC Atlantic City believes he’s the ‘real challenge’ for Khabib, not Dustin Poirier or Eddie Alvarez. So we have to wait and see what UFC wants that’s what matters.
Before Eddie lock horns with Khabib, “The Underground King” has to sign a new contract with the UFC as he is on the last fight of his current deal.
