Khabib Nurmagomedov Talks Beef With Conor McGregor
Khabib Nurmagomedov is scheduled to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 242. Ahead of this, he talks about his deep-seeded hatred for Conor McGregor.
When Khabib faces Poirier to unify the lightweight titles at UFC 242, it will be his first fight since late last year. He faced Conor McGregor, in one of the biggest grudge matches in combat sports history. However what has kept Khabib from competing, was the actions after the fight. He jumped the cage to attack McGregor’s team, further fueling the hatred.
Ahead of UFC 242, Khabib spoke with ESPN, to talk his rivalry with McGregor. According to him, this beef is far from squashed.
“Even this fight finish, not everything is finished. Just smash people it’s not enough. I talk about just smash only him? It’s not enough. We have to smash all his team. This is what I think before the fight. This is what I say to my team. ‘Hey, tonight, we’re going to war. This is not about fight.’
It will never be finished. Ever. Even if we see [each other] somewhere, we’re going to fight, 100 percent. It doesn’t matter if someone go to jail or something like this. I’m not scared about this. If someone has to go to jail, they go to jail. . . They go to hospital and we’ll go to police. That’s it”
Nurmagomedov continued, confirming that there is still hatred. However, it will be a while before we see a rematch between the two.
“I don’t think this fight can happen. This guy have to come back and make nine or ten fight win streak. Then we gonna fight. Maybe people who watch this interview, they think, ‘Oh, he think about this, but when UFC ask this guy to fight Conor for millions of dollars, this guy is gonna take it.’ No. Come back and show who are you. Fight with Justin, fight with Iaquinta, fight with Tony. Fight. Just show up. When he win last time? Three years ago and this guy wants to fight for the title?
”Dana [White], no need to call me. Why he have to call me about this fight? We talk with Dana sometimes, he’s a good guy, but don’t talk with me about this crazy fight. I want to fight real guys – Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson, maybe if one of the greatest athletes ever, Georges St-Pierre, wants to fight. I want to fight those guys, I don’t want to fight with a guy who never wins.”
Clearly this is something that Khabib Nurmagomedov feels strongly about. Moreover, he is showing respect to his division, by saying that Conor needs to win again before getting a title shot. Nevertheless, there will always be fire between Khabib and Conor.
UFC 242 takes place next Saturday, in Abu Dhabi, live on PPV. It is headlined by a lightweight title unification bout, between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier.
