Khabib Nurmagomedov responds to doubters who worry he’ll miss weight

By Tom Taylor - December 20, 2017

On December 30, the UFC will return to it’s home in Las Vegas, Nevada with UFC 219. In this stacked card’s co-main event, undefeated lightweight star Khabib Nurmagomedov will take on Edson Barboza in hopes of reasserting himself as the division’s top contender, and earning a fight with interim champion Tony Ferguson.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

While fans are very excited to see Nurmagomedov return to the cage, there is also widespread worry that he’ll fail to make weight. He was previously forced out of a planned bout with Ferguson as the result of a disastrous cut, after all.

Speaking at this week’s UFC 219 media event, Nurmagomedov addressed his doubters, and gave a tongue in cheek update on his  weight cut.

“I have plan for cutting weight,” Nurmagomedov joked (h/t Mark Raimondi of MMAFighting.com). “I’m gonna cut my left or right leg [off] Friday morning, before weigh-ins. Now we think about this — left or right?”

From there, Nurmagomedov got a little more serious.

“I change a lot of things,” he said. “My weight is perfect. My shape is good. I have three more hard days and I finish all my training camp and focus on making weight. We’ll see. I am not in bad shape. I’m very excited about it. I want to show this.”

“I’m very close,” he added.

Whatever the case, the undefeated lightweight seems to find it funny that people are so interested in his weight.

“I think it’s interesting,” he said. “For people. Maybe we’re gonna make pay-per-view on weigh-in. People want to know, is this guy gonna make weight or no? Why not? People waiting not only my fight, people waiting for my weight. It’s OK. It’s gonna be interesting.”

Do you think Khabib Nurmagomedov can make weight, take out Edson Barboza, and earn his long-awaited fight with the interim champ Tony Ferguson?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 20/12/2017.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Khabib Nurmagomedov