Fedor Emelianenko weighs-in on Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor

Last month at UFC 205, Khabib Nurmedomedov cemented his place as the lightweight #1 contender when he picked up a horrifically dominant win over Michael Johnson. Nurmagomedov used his grappling skills to repeatedly take Johnson down, and land countless elbows, complete with trash talk to Johnson mid-fight, and a conversation with UFC President Dana White between rounds. Ultimately, in the third round ‘The Eagle’ was able to secure a submission, and get the win.

In the main event, UFC superstar Conor McGregor made his UFC lightweight debut against Eddie Alvarez. McGregor too picked up a dominant win, dropping Alvarez moments into the fight en route to a 2nd round TKO win to claim the lightweight championship.

Given that both men were victorious in their respective fights, talks of Nurmagomedov getting a title shot against McGregor quickly picked up steam. That is until McGregor revealed that he would be taking some time off due to the upcoming birth of his firstborn child.

Despite McGregor teasing a post-Christmas return to the Octagon, it appears as though the UFC is moving forward with an interim lightweight title fight, which will include Nurmagomedov.

Now, MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko has weighed-in on Nurmagomedov’s situation, giving his thoughts on Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor to Lenta.ru:

“It depends on the leadership of the UFC and fighters themselves. I think this fight is possible. Habib has long earned the right to fight for a title, he made up for it all. He should be given a chance.”

“The Irishman is very good at striking,” he explained to izvestia.ru. “It’s a well known fact. But Khabib is professionals on the ground. If this fight will take place, I am sure, it will be a very entertaining fight!”

Emelianenko of course is coming off a successful run in 2016, which saw him return to MMA and go 2-0. Last month, it was revealed that Emelianenko had signed with Bellator MMA and would be fighting UFC vet Matt Mitrione on February 18th.