Khabib Nurmagomedov News

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2018

This morning, the MMA community was rocked by the terrible news that Max Holloway—in the midst of his cut down to 155 pounds—was deemed unfit to fight at UFC 223, and forced of his planned lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov as a result. “[Khabib Nurmagomedov] my brother, I want to keep going but they are stopping me,” Holloway said in a Friday morning statement on Twitter, assuring that he would have continued to cut weight were it not for the intervention of the New York State Athletic Commission. “Sorry to your team and the fans. You don’t deserve this. This is number one. Shout outs to you and [Anthony Pettis]. Give the fans what they deserve.”

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2018

If ever there was a truly cursed fight card, it’s UFC 223. A week after Tony Ferguson withdrew from his originally scheduled main event battle with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and less than 24 hours after Conor McGregor and his cronies caused the cancellation of a whopping three scheduled fights, featherweight champ Max Holloway has been forced out of his last-minute showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov, having been deemed medically unfit to fight. The good news is that Khabib Nurmagomedov could still fight on the card. According to multiple reports, Anthony Pettis has been called on to step in against the undefeated Dagestani star. Pettis will first need to hit the 155-mark.

Chris Taylor - April 5, 2018

Breaking! Khabib Nurmagomedov has a message for Conor McGregor following today’s mayhem in Brooklyn! Conor McGregor and his entourage stormed the Barclay’s Center today in Brooklyn where they proceeded to unleash havoc on not only the venue, but also the UFC fighters bus (watch that here).

Tom Taylor - April 5, 2018

https://twitter.com/robinblackmma/status/981527206471045120 One of the pillars of the Khabib Nurmagomedov legend is his wrestling match with a bear. Granted, this wrestling match occurred when Nurmagomedov and bear were both very young and relatively harmless, but the fact is that the undefeated Dagestani lightweight is one of the few people on earth who can claim he’s fought a member of the ursine species.

Tom Taylor - April 3, 2018

When Tony Ferguson was forced out of the UFC 223 main event with a freak leg injury—on April Fools of all days—the UFC began a frantic hunt for a replacement opponent for Khabib Nurmagomedov. Though the promotion also considered Eddie Alvarez and Brian Ortega, it ultimately landed on UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway, who will have just 6 days to prepare for the massive challenges Nurmagomedov presents. Nurmagomedov, of course, is happy Holloway stepped up, as it means he’ll still have a chance to fight for the lightweight title this weekend, and he’ll still get paid. If he were in Holloway’s position, however, and the UFC came calling asking him to step up and fight on 6 days notice with no preparation, he’d have said no.

Tom Taylor - April 3, 2018

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Drake Riggs - April 2, 2018

You’re lying if you don’t think that the last forty-eight hours have been ridiculous in the MMA world. The joke of all MMA jokes was delivered on the day of jokes but…it wasn’t a joke… The highly anticipated lightweight title battle between interim champion, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov was called off for the fourth time after Ferguson sustained a freak injury. This puts the two at 2-2 when pulling out of booked fights between them. This one might just not be meant to happen.

Tom Taylor - April 2, 2018

With Tony Ferguson out with a leg injury, Khabib Nurmagomedov will now fight UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway in the UFC 223 main event. While he’s happy to have received a replacement opponent at all, he said his first choice in this regard was Conor McGregor. “I told them first, ‘hey, where is this Burger King, [bring] this Burger King here,'” Nurmagomedov told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “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.”

Tom Taylor - April 2, 2018

From the sounds of it, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway wasn’t the only featherweight to accept a last-minute fight with undefeated lightweight dynamo Khabib Nurmagomedov. While it was ultimately Holloway who got the fight, surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega also accepted a matchup with Nurmagomedov. Ortega dropped this interesting tidbit on Twitter on Monday afternoon. He also assured that while the Nurmagomedov matchup landed in Holloway’s lap, he’ll fight both men in the future.

Tom Taylor - April 2, 2018

Yesterday, we learned that Tony Ferguson had been forced out of his UFC 223 showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov with a freak leg injury. Though we all wanted to believe this news was an extremely elaborate April Fools joke, it turns out it wasn’t. It’s all very real. With this latest calamity, Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov have now been scheduled to fight a whopping four times to no avail. Four goddamn times they’ve signed contracts to scrap, and not once have they actually made it into the cage together… you can’t make this stuff up!

Tom Taylor - April 2, 2018

By this point, we’ve all woken up, pinched ourselves, and come to grips with the unfortunate reality that Tony Ferguson’s UFC 223 withdrawal was not an elaborate April Fools joke or a nightmare. The interim lightweight champ really has been forced out of the fight with a leg injury—a leg injury he sustained while he was walking, if you can believe that. The good news is that we get a solid consolation prize. Nurmagomedov will still fight on the card, taking on a beefed up version of UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway, who steps up on just six days notice. The two will battle for the undisputed lightweight title.

Russell Sai - April 2, 2018

Holloway tells KHON2 he is ready for Khabib and ready to “make history” at #UFC223 https://t.co/YBVBQ330Pl @BlessedMMA #BlessedEra pic.twitter.com/B1Wyeu7eCs — Rob DeMello (@RobDeMelloKHON) April 2, 2018

Chris Taylor - April 1, 2018

Khabib Nurmagomedov sends messages to both Tony Ferguson and Conor McGregor Just over an hour ago news broke that current UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson had suffered an injury and was no longer able to compete against Khabib Nurmagomedov in next weekend’s UFC 223 main event.

Chris Taylor - March 31, 2018

Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov is not off despite multiple misleading reports Current UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will square off with undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 223 next weekend in Brooklyn.

Tom Taylor - March 30, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will finally collide—knock on wood. Ahead of this fight, the world is dividing when it comes to picking a winner. There are those we believe Nurmagomedov will climb to an insane 26-0 by wrestling Ferguson into sawdust, and there are those who feel Ferguson possesses the perfect style to thwart the seemingly unstoppable Russian.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

9th-ranked UFC lightweight contender Michael Chiesa will be watching very closely when Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov battle for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 223 this April 7. With another few impressive wins, after all, he could very easily find himself locked in the cage with the winner. So who does Chiesa expect that winner to be? He’s leaning in the direction of Nurmagomedov on the basis of Nurmagomedov’s world class grappling ability.

Justin Golightly - March 22, 2018

Kevin Lee returns back into action at UFC Atlantic City against Edson Barboza, in what is sure to be a wild scrap. Both men will be looking to bounce back after their big losses to elite competition, but Lee doesn’t intend on just stopping there. Kevin Lee reveals the plan is to take care of Barboza in more devastating fashion than both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, then fight Nurmagomedov. “I think me and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] are the fight to make after this. […] I think I’m still the marquee fight in this division for anybody. You know, me and Khabib will sell big, me and Tony [Ferguson] got a rematch that will sell big, me and [Conor] McGregor will sell big. So, it’s a lot of big fights left on the horizon. […] 100 percent after this one, I’ll beat Edson [Barboza] in New Jersey and then I’ll go out there and beat Khabib in Russia. And then, who knows, maybe we’ll throw a stadium show with Conor McGregor in the future in Ireland.”

Tom Taylor - March 21, 2018

UFC 223 lightweight title challenger Khabib Nurmagomedov and recent UFC interim lightweight title challenger Kevin Lee have had plenty to say about each other recently. The pair’s latest feud began when Lee dumped all over Nurmagomedov’s UFC 219 win over Edson Barboza.