Khabib Nurmagomedov News

Justin Golightly - December 29, 2017

No weight issues for top contender @TeamKhabib, as he registers 155.5 pounds on the scale 💪. Watch #UFC219 official weigh ins LIVE: https://t.co/2iQmYbS437 pic.twitter.com/59GjoFZHrp — MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) December 29, 2017

Justin Golightly - December 29, 2017

You may have saw some news yesterday about Khabib Nurmagomedov that you just couldn’t believe. In the midst of all his weight cutting drama and criticisms, he revealed that he was thinking about switching divisions. No to welterweight where you’d think he would end up, but actually down to featherweight. As crazy as that sounds, his new nutritionist not only says that he’s on track to have his best cut ever, but that getting down to 145-pounds is possible. “Well, [Khabib Nurmagomedov] means it [when he talks about moving to featherweight]. This cut’s going really well. Again, I’m not trying to tempt the MMA gods here, but the cut’s going really well. And when a guy sees that the cut’s going really well, and you see big possible fights at 145, you think, ‘Well, are there things I could start doing two months sooner and be 10 pounds lighter to make the cut easier?’ You start looking, ‘Are there things I could do?’ So, I think he’s seeing this weight cut’s going better and seeing maybe if he even starts sooner, it would be easier. But no, I think he means it.”

Drake Riggs - December 28, 2017

UFC 219 is drawing closer and closer. The weigh-ins are tomorrow and everyone is anticipating whether or not the top Lightweight contender, Khabib Nurmagomedov will make weight after his mishap at UFC 209. According to Khabib himself, he only has four pounds to go and that if he makes weight and defeats Edson Barboza, he has himself the UFC title shot that has been eluding his undefeated 24-0 career.\

Justin Golightly - December 28, 2017

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a smashing machine. He’s been fighting since 2008 and is undefeated. No one in the UFC has solved the brutal Sambo problem that Nurmagomedov poses. The only tarnish on his entire career is missing weight, resulting in the cancellation of his fight with Tony Ferguson. So far, it looks like his cut for UFC 219’s bout against Edson Barboza is going very smoothly and he’s happier and healthier than ever. It’s going so well apparently, that Khabib Nurmagomedov is going down — yes, down — to the featherweight division. “Yeah, I think about this [jump down to the featherweight division]. We think about this last month because we watch our weight and we watch how many guys who fight in 145, they have same weight like me. I think fighting in two divisions. Take belt in two divisions is good idea. Everybody think about I can fight in 170, but to be honest, I think I’m small guy at 170. Like, we can watch Cowboy. Cowboy is small at 170. But in 155, he don’t look like small. [Rafael] dos Anjos, when he fight Magny or other guys, he looks small. He beats these guys, but he look small. That’s why I think with 170, I am small. When you go to the fight with high level welterweights, you have to be weighing like 190 when you go to the cage. I think 9 weeks I can make weight [at 145]. My plan is Edson [Barboza] and Tony [Ferguson]. After, we will think about this.”— Edson Barboza speaking to MMA NYTT.

Russell Ess - December 26, 2017

It has been over one year since we have seen Khabib Nurmagomedov compete in the Octagon. The current number 2 UFC ranked lightweight last fought at UFC 205 against Michael Johnson winning with a kimura submission in the third round. Nurmagomedov was scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC lightweight title at UFC 209 in March. However, Nurmagomedov was taken to the hospital “due to weight management medical issues” just before the weigh-ins took place and the fight had to be canceled.

Justin Golightly - December 23, 2017

The last UFC card of the year is fast approaching and there is yet another big lightweight fight that can decide who is in contention for the throne. Eddie Alvarez put on a slobberknocker of a fight against Justin Gaethje, rocketing him back up to the top, but Khabib Nurmagomedov is facing Edson Barboza to hold his place at the front. Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson is waiting to unify the titles against Conor McGregor. And who blames him? Nurmagomedov’s coach Javier Mendez sure doesn’t, but it’s why he’s not too confident that the Ferguson fight is next. “If that fight [with Tony Ferguson] does come together, it’s gonna be because Conor [McGregor] vacated the title. That’s the only way I see that happening. Otherwise, Tony’s gonna hang in there for that golden nugget, and I don’t blame him. He wants the fights for that big money, but you know what, there also comes a time too with the time of limitation too. You can’t hold on forever. You can’t hold the division on forever, you know? You’re eventually gonna have to be put in a situation where if you don’t fight Conor you’re gonna have to fight somebody. So, the only fight that makes sense for Tony if Conor doesn’t fight him, is Khabib. That’s it. There’s no other fight that makes sense, there’s no other fight that people will buy into.”

Justin Golightly - December 22, 2017

No matter what, there is a ghost that haunts Khabib Nurmagomedov. It’s not a fight with Conor McGregor, it’s not a loss in the UFC because the man has none. What follows the Russian Sambo machine wherever he goes is his infamous weight cut battle. A war he lost back at UFC 209, causing his highly anticipated fight with Tony Ferguson to be scrapped. Despite all of this, coach Javier Mendez claims it has all been blown way out of proportion. “You know, the last time, people were making too much of [Khabib Nurmagomedov’s] weight cut, talking about it was disastrous, he wasn’t gonna make weight, just because his opponent says he wasn’t gonna make weight and he made fun of it. He was on schedule to make weight, his body just failed on him. It’s like, how many times do you see a fighter get ready for a fight and all of a sudden kidney stones or something happens to him?”

Russell Ess - December 20, 2017

November 12, 2016, was the last time we saw Conor McGregor fight in the Octagon. McGregor became the UFC lightweight champion that night, capturing the belt from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 and also became the first fighter in history to hold two UFC weight division’s titles simultaneously. Over a year has passed since and McGregor has only competed once and it was outside of the Octagon in a highly lucrative boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, which was the second highest pay-per-view event of all time.

Justin Golightly - December 19, 2017

Back at UFC 218, the UFC’s unofficial ‘Most Violent’ title was on the line between Justin Gaethje and Eddie Alvarez and they tore the house down. It was brutal. It was bloody. It was nearly three whole rounds of nonstop destruction. Even Gaethje was happy with losing to Alvarez by knockout. It seems like the only person who didn’t seem to enjoy the fight between Gaethje and Alvarez was Khabib Nurmagomedov. He voiced his criticisms on the scrap and it didn’t take long for Alvarez himself to respond. No wayyy @TeamKhabib called Me unprofessional… Ain’t that some shit . God bless You my man haven’t laughed this hard in a while 🤣🤣 Merry Christmas 🎄🎁

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2017

It’s arguable that Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje’s lightweight showdown was the most anticipated feature of the UFC 218 bill, and when the cage door closed, the fight delivered on expectations. For two and a half rounds, the two patron saints of violence beat each other silly, throwing caution to the wind, until Alvarez put his foe down for good with a third-round knee to the face. While this fight stands out as one of the best of the year, however, not everybody enjoyed it. File undefeated UFC lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov into that group.

Drake Riggs - December 15, 2017

The undefeated 24-0, Dagestani destroyer, Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the Lightweight division’s very best fighters and has been for the past several years. Khabib’s last scheduled fight was a huge and highly anticipated Interim title fight against the man who ended up becoming champ despite not fighting Khabib, Tony Ferguson. The fight was supposed to take place at UFC 209 but unfortunately, Khabib had enough trouble cutting weight that it prevented him from even weighing in. On one of the UFC Embedded episodes for UFC 209, there was a shot caught on camera of Khabib and his team having the popular coffee-flavored Italian dessert, tiramisu. UFC Embedded is filmed during the week of the PPV event which means the week of weigh-ins… And although Khabib wasn’t seen actually eating the dessert on camera, the internet has accused this of being a big reason for Khabib’s missed weight and many, many jokes have been said since the event took place, both from fighters and MMA fans alike.

Chris Taylor - November 25, 2017

Interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has finally responded to Khabib Nurmagomedov. The undefeated Russian standout, Nurmagomedov, made headlines earlier this week when he revealed that the UFC had offered him a fight with Tony Ferguson at UFC 219.

Justin Golightly - November 22, 2017

Khabib Nurmagomedov wants to fight Tony Ferguson. He wants a chance to ‘smash his face’ so bad, he doesn’t even want a fight with Conor McGregor yet. It’s easy to see why he feels the need to take care of unfinished business — they’ve been slated to fight each other as far back as 2015 — but now he may have even more reason to hold a grudge. Allegedly, Nurmagomedov and Ferguson were offered a contract to fight at UFC 219. Nurmagomedov says he signed, but Ferguson never did. Shortly after the news, Daniel Cormier had some choice words for the UFC lightweight champ in support of his AKA teammate.  So I walk into the gym today and @khabib_nurmagomedov walks up and says the @Ufc is wanting to make me vs @tonyfergusonxt for dec 30. They wanna make the card bigger for end of the year. Then he tells me that tony is saying no to the fight. Come on Tony, that ain’t gangsta bruh. Take the fight man!!!! And by the way Ufc says tony won’t ever fight Conor so that’s not an option. The fans really want it. Come on My friend, hit him with that low single u always talk about. #khabibchamp #weareaka

Tom Taylor - November 22, 2017

This December 30, on the main card of UFC 219, undefeated Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov is scheduled to step into the cage with venomous Brazilian striker Edson Barboza. From the sounds of it, however, Nurmagomedov has also been offered a UFC 219 bout with interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson. In a Wednesday afternoon Tweet, Nurmagomedov announced that he’d been offered this fight with Ferguson, and that he has accepted it.

Justin Golightly - November 22, 2017

To close out the year, Khabib Nurmagomedov is going to fight Edson Barboza at UFC 219. It will be his first UFC appearance since UFC 205 in November of last year. After many failed attempts to fight Tony Ferguson, Nurmagomedov is finally healthy and ready to return with a vengeance. After he takes care of his business with Barboza, the Russian Sambo machine doesn’t want to fight Conor McGregor. He’d rather finally answer the Ferguson question and put it all behind him. Not just for closure, but because he simply doesn’t like the guy. “My opinion, I have to fight for the title, you know. I deserve this. This is not about eight-fights in the UFC, this is about all my career since 2008. My plan is fight Edson Barboza. First of all, make weight. Second, beat this guy. And next year year want to fight Tony Ferguson. This is my plan. Me versus Conor is a good fight too, but first of all I have to finish. We have unfinished business with Tony Ferguson. I really, really want to smash this guys face. This is what I want. Sometimes you just don’t like somebody and it’s OK. Like, I think everywhere, everybody, there’s somebody who don’t like you. You know what I like about Tony Ferguson? I can smash him and the UFC are going to pay me money. UFC are going to pay me money.”

Tom Taylor - November 22, 2017

While Jose Aldo was surprisingly understanding of Conor McGregor‘s infamous rampage at Bellator 187, Khabib Nurmagomedov is not. Speaking on the Talk and Talker Podcast, Nurmagomedov went off on McGregor for his actions, suggesting he should have calmed down when he was told to leave the cage, and that he never should have gotten physical with the referee.

Justin Golightly - October 27, 2017

It was on an episode of The MMA Hour earlier this month, that Edson Barboza confirmed that he was offered a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. The lightweight contender said he had not agreed or was even offered the fight, but there was clear some things were going on due to posts on Nurmagomedov and Barboza’s social media a few days before the show. Today the rumors and talk were put to rest, as the UFC confirmed that Barboza will fight Nurmagomedov at UFC 219 on December 30th. Khabib on Insta has said his next fight will be Dec 30@SecretMovesMMA saw Barboza delete a tweet about a Dec bout

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2017

Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC 216, Tony Ferguson defeated Kevin Lee with a third-round choke to capture the UFC interim lightweight title. While Ferguson ultimately came out on top, Lee put up a valiant fight, and very nearly finished Ferguson with ground-and-pound in the first frame. In the eyes of Khabib Nurmagomedov, however, Lee fought like a “chicken.” The undefeated Nurmagomedov trashed Lee’s UFC 216 performance on the latest edition of The MMA Hour.