Med Tony Ferguson ute ur leken på grund av knäskada, kommer Khabib Nurmagomedov istället att möta den regerande fjäderviktsmästaren Max Holloway om lättviktsbältet i huvudmatchen på UFC 223 nu i helgen.
Nurmagomedov är nöjd med att alls ha en motståndare, men hade helst velat möta Conor McGregor, som han dessutom pikade för den senares reklamkontrakt med en stor hamburgerkedja.
Khabib berättade följande i dagens The MMA Hour:
I told them first, ’hey, where is this Burger King, [bring] this Burger King here. I need this guy, because he put a Tweet a couple weeks ago saying ‘stay ready.’ Now where is this guy? Six days to make weight? It’s a [good amount of days] to make weight. It’s not like two, three. It’s six he can weight. Bring this guy.
Dagestaniern gav sedan sin version av varför det inte blir McGregor på andra sidan oktagonen i helgen:
Dana [White] says he has to look nice, like [his] face and everything, because now he have good sponsorships deals. We cannot change his face. I said ok, I need somebody. I need to fight for the title, but I don’t care who. Bring whoever you want guys, [just at] 155, fight for the title. I need this. Please stop giving me regular [non-title] fights, because I need to fight for the title. I have best win-streak now, in UFC. Fighting regular fights? I’m tired of this. I’m 29 years old. I’m young, hungry, now my time is coming. I need to fight for title.
Avslutningsvis så delgav Khabib oss hur samtalet mellan honom och UFC:s VD gick till. Det samtal som slutade med att Max Holloway kunde bokas som ersättare till helgens huvudmatch, trots att det inte alls var vad Khabib själv trodde:
Dana told me ’I’m working on this,’ and after about an hour he called me — and I don’t think about Max Holloway, you know. I think about maybe [Dustin] Poirier, [Eddie] Alvarez, because Poirier fights next week. I think about maybe [Michael] Chiesa, [Paul] Felder, [Al] Iaquinta, [Anthony] Pettis, because these guys fight with me same night [at UFC 223]. But they call me and say Max Holloway. I said, you know, ’doesn’t matter.’ I say, ’if this is for real belt, I say yes.’
Även om det som Nurmagomedov säger är både intressant och lite kittlande, är det också viktigt att notera att enligt White har McGregor inte ens erbjudits fighten. White kommenterade frågan hos ESPN:
I don’t think Conor McGregor could make the weight on six day’s notice. That’s a tough weight cut for him. Conor isn’t exactly the guy that I want to throw in as a late replacement fighter. He’s the guy that I want to make a fight with, have the right amount of time to promote the fight, have the fight in the right place, so I’m not interested in asking Conor to take the fight.
Om Khabib vinner lättviktsbältet under lördagens UFC 223 är sannolikheten stor att han får möta Conor i sitt första titelsförsvar.
