Khabib Nurmagomedov has accused the UFC of ignoring a past contract in order to appease Conor McGregor.
While many of us recognise Khabib to be the greatest lightweight in UFC history, that wasn’t quite the case in the lead-up to the huge UFC 205 card at Madison Square Garden in late 2016 – an event that marked the first time the UFC had put on a show in that famous arena.
The rise of “The Eagle”
On that night, Conor McGregor beat Eddie Alvarez to become the first-ever simultaneous two-division champion in the UFC. On the same card Khabib Nurmagomedov dominated and submitted Michael Johnson to cement his place as the number one contender to the belt.
However, as per the Russian star, Khabib was initially scheduled to fight Alvarez for the strap at MSG before the UFC pulled the rug out from underneath him.
“They send me contract fight versus Alvarez, fight for the title. First of all, they send me fight in Canada. I sign contract. Then, they send me fight with him in, I think, Madison Square Garden. I sign contract. And I was, ‘What’s going on? I don’t understand why this guy send me, like, two different contract.’
“I sign contract then I see in media, like, Conor gonna fight with Alvarez. And I was, like, ‘Hey, I supposed to fight with him. I sign already contract.’”
“I think they play game. They play game, and I send Dana message, ‘Hey, I understand everything. OK, if you guys give Conor this fight, I understand this guy’s big name.’ That time, I don’t have big name. ‘You just use my name to force them to sign contract. I understand everything. OK, just give me someone. I wanna fight same night.’
“‘Just give me someone. You big organization, just find me someone.’ They say, ‘OK.’ It was, like, one month before the fight, they say, ‘You just be ready, we’re gonna find you (an opponent).’”
Khabib retired from professional mixed martial arts last year with an unbeaten 29-0 record.
Featured image credit: Getty
