Khabib Nurmagomedov gives his take on the UFC’s situation with Conor McGregor.
It’s been over a year since Conor McGregor was crowned official UFC lightweight champion, and the Irishman still hasn’t defended the belt.
McGregor, 29, didn’t defend his featherweight title either, and the pressure is mounting for ‘The Notorious’ to step up and prove to the rest of the division that he’s a worthy champion.
The SBG Ireland talent spent most of 2017 embroiled in drama with pound-for-pound boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. McGregor eventually fought ‘Money’ in the boxing ring this past August and lost via 10th round TKO.
After claiming to have ‘transcended’ both MMA and boxing, McGregor is trying to iron out a new contract with the UFC, but top-ranked lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is set to take on Edson Barboza at UFC 219, thinks the situations is ‘very bad’ and believes McGregor should be stripped of the belt.
“If he doesn’t have injuries, and he doesn’t defend his belt for more than a year, then it’s very bad,” Nurmagomedov told fans in a recent online Q&A (h/t RT Sport).
“But when you are the champion and you don’t have an injury, you have to defend it. I really liked how Georges St-Pierre acted in a similar situation. Once he understood, that he won’t be able to fight, he didn’t hold his division (in wait). And that’s the decision of of a real champion.
“Conor doesn’t defend his belt. I don’t even know when he is going to do that. He has the name, it’s profitable for the UFC that he is the champion. They make money because of him and they won’t strip him off the belt. But in my opinion Conor had to be stripped off his belt a long time ago. And Tony Ferguson should be the real champion.”
McGregor, who beat Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight title last year, recently shut down rumors of a potential boxing match with all-time great Manny Pacquiao, claiming that he wants to have a ‘real’ fight in MMA. The Dubliner also posted a picture of him training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at SBG Ireland, hinting that his next fight will be in the Octagon.
Nurmagomedov, who has been sidelined from competition for over a year due to weight-cutting complications and injuries, fights Barboza at UFC 219. The pay-per-view extravaganza takes place next week, Dec. 30 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
