Nurmagomedov Not Impressed With McGregor’s Win Over “Cowboy”
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov still doesn’t seem open to a rematch with Conor McGregor in the future.
McGregor returned to the Octagon last month at UFC 246 when he quickly defeated Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds. UFC president Dana White has since claimed that McGregor will be next in line for a title shot.
However, Nurmagomedov and his camp aren’t as receptive to the idea no matter how lucrative a second fight with the Irishman would be. Nurmagomedov wasn’t even impressed with McGregor’s win over Cerrone given the latter’s record in big fights.
“’Cowboy’ always lose all his main event fights. Always,” Nurmagomedov told TMZ. “I don’t remember when he win. But in the last 10 fights, I think he lose six or seven fights. He’s not high-level lightweight or welterweight right now. He’s not. Of course he has big name, but his time is finished.
“Conor picked a very good opponent. Now, he come back and beat ‘Cowboy’, who lose last 10 fights seven times and then they talk about, ‘okay, this guy’s come back.’ No, he has to fight with really tough opponents like Justin Gaethje or something like this. He has to come back to lightweight division, he has to cut weight. This is just my opinion.”
Nurmagomedov went as far as saying McGregor was ducking tough matchups.
“I think he’s just ducking tough matchups, not only Justin Gaethje,” he added. “He just choose ‘okay, who’s going to be my next fight, I need easy fight.’ Of course he can, because he’s big star.”
For now, Nurmagomedov defends his lightweight title against Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 249 on April 18. Should he come away with the win, a McGregor rematch will likely be next.
“The Eagle” acknowledges a rematch would be good for money and drama. But when it comes to a competitive standpoint, he doesn’t see the point of it happening.
“I think people want to see [us] just continue what happened last time,” Nurmagomedov said. “They just want to see drama. If you ask people, ‘guys, what do you think, who’s gonna win?’ 99 percent going to say ‘Khabib, like he did first time.’ Just people want to see a big drama show, only for this one.
“If we talk about money, this is good. If we talk about drama, this is good. If we talk about real lightweight contender or real lightweight championship fight, this is not good. This is not real lightweight championship fight. But if we talk about drama and money, of course this is good. But I come here for show, make my legacy. For my legacy, I have to beat tough opponents like Dustin Poirier, like [Al] Iaquinta, like other guys. Right now it’s Tony Ferguson. I have to beat all of them, like real contenders, not fake contenders.”
Do you agree with Nurmagomedov?
