Khabib Nurmagomedov may be retired from MMA, but he is still a big fan of the sport. He believes that after suffering a broken leg at UFC 264, Conor McGregor will never be the same fighter again.
Khabib already gave his initial reaction to the results of Poirier vs McGregor 3, shortly after the contest ended. To little surprise, he was not exactly sympathetic to the outcome that his bitter rival suffered in this bout.
Now, speaking in a recent interview, the retired lightweight champ said that he feels like fans should not be supportive of a bad guy like Conor. More to the point, he says that after suffering this injury, the Irishman will never be the same.
“Money and fame show who you are. All the time we hear that money and fame change people. No. When money and fame come, these two things show who you are. And what has [McGregor] done? He punched an old guy [in a bar in 2019]. You guys can watch everything he did and understand, it’s just like Dustin said, ‘This guy is a bag of s—,'” Khabib said.
“I saw a lot of tweets try to support him. How are you gonna support this guy? When kids, young generation watch him, watch this sport? If you want to promote your fight, promote… If the MMA community is going to support this bad people, this sport is going to go in a bad way.
“Without broken legs, yes, [he could be the same],” Khabib added. “But with broken legs, he’s never going to kick the same. With him, no, I don’t believe [he’ll return to the top]. Conor have good age [32], but what happened with his mind, legs — this guy is finished, but he’s good for promotion.”
Khabib Says Round Two Would Be No Different
The break that Conor McGregor suffered came at the end of a first round in which he lost, leading the Notorious one to say that round two would have been a different story. However Khabib Nurmagomedov is not so sure about that.
He went on to say that Dustin is just an overall better fighter than Conor. So even if the fight continued, and Conor did not get injured, the result would have been the same in the end.
“Nothing happened, like what’s going to happen? The judges gave Dustin Poirier like a 10-8 [in the first round]. He mauled (McGregor). I think if they fight 100 times, Dustin is going to beat him 100 times,” Khabib said.
“If you want to come back, okay make him fight one more time with Dustin Poirier and finish this guy… What’s the UFC going to do with (Conor)? Maybe make him fight versus Nate (Diaz), but I think both of them, he is going to lose.”
Do you agree with this assessment from Khabib Nurmagomedov? Will Conor McGregor ever be able to be the same fighter after this brutal leg injury?
