Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t seem all that impressed by the competition in the lightweight division, at least judging by his comments when asked about the top fighters in the world at 155 pounds.
While Nurmagomedov is focused on a showdown with Tony Ferguson at UFC 223 in April, a win would make him lightweight champion and then he will have a laundry list of top fighters anxious to challenge him for the gold.
So Nurmagomedov was asked just recently on an edition of “The Exchange” to give his thoughts and opinions on several of the best fighters in the world in the lightweight division.
“He took a lot of shots. He’s become like old.”
“He’s a tough guy. He has to change [his] game. All the time wars, he has to change this. Because I know he’s a good wrestler. I think he has to mix wrestling and hard punches”
“Not bad, but not a tough fight”
“He wants to be tough but he have very small heart. Very small heart. Because when he fight with Tony Ferguson, between second and third rounds, you guys can watch his face and understand who he is, everything. Face never lies. When Tony Ferguson talk about ‘this is my mat’, his face agrees with this.”
“UFC’s son or maybe Dana’s son or Dana’s nephew. Something like this.”
Now Nurmagomedov was asked to expand on his thoughts about McGregor, who still holds a title at 155 pounds — at least until April 7 when the UFC 223 main event is completed.
Should Nurmagomedov defeat Ferguson, it would seem that a fight against McGregor might be the most logical matchup considering where the Irishman stands in the division, not to mention his drawing power at the box office.
According to Nurmagomedov, none of that matters to him so if McGregor wants to fight for the lightweight title when he returns, he better become Ferguson’s biggest supporter.
“If he has the belt, of course we’re going to fight. But now with what happened to his two belts, everything is finished. I’m going to beat Tony Ferguson and then he has to beg me,” Nurmagomedov stated. “You remember his tweet? What’s he going to do?
“I’m going to take this belt, become undisputed, undefeated lightweight champ. If the UFC tries to put Conor McGregor [in a] fight with me — go in the line, you have to deserve this.”
