UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is all set to defend his lightweight title against interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in Abu Dhabi on September 7.
The Russian superstar is the heavyweight favourite ahead of his fight and he already has the next opponent in mind should he beat Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 next week.
“There’s only Tony Ferguson,” Nurmagomedov told reporters during a UFC 242 media conference call (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “Of course, I think he deserves. Who else? Nobody. Only Tony Ferguson I think.”
Khabib and Ferguson were scheduled to fight each other on four separate occasions and the last time they were supposed to fight each other was back in April of 2018 at UFC 223. It was the very same event where Conor McGregor attacked Khabib Nurmagomedov’s bus with a dolly at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Conor and Khabib fought at UFC 229 where the Irishmen was submitted in the fourth round. This was also the highest-selling pay-per-view fight in the history of the UFC. McGregor has called for a rematch, but Nurmagomedov isn’t very keen on giving him a rematch anytime soon. He also believes that Dustin Poirier is a tougher fight than McGregor.
“I think maybe right now Dustin is a more complete MMA fighter than him,” Nurmagomedov stated. “Because he beat a lot of good guys in the lightweight division and I don’t remember when Conor win in the lightweight division. I think he only beat [Eddie] Alvarez and he have only one win in the lightweight division in a long, long time. (H/T – BloodyElbow.com)
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