Khabib Nurmagomedov slams Conor McGregor for ‘ducking tough matchups’

Khabib Nurmagomedov believes his arch rival Conor McGregor is targeting easy matchups and avoiding legitimate challenges.

Speaking to TMZ, Nurmagomedov disparaged McGregor’s recent win over the veteran Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, and accused the Irishman of avoiding more difficult opponents like Justin Gaethje.

“Cowboy always loses all his main event fights,” Nurmagomedov said. “I don’t remember when he wins. His last ten fights, I think he win seven times. Six or seven times. He’s not a high level lightweight or welterweight. He’s not. Of course he has big name, but his time is finished. Conor picked very good opponent.

“Now they talk about ‘this guy [McGregor] come back,'” Nurmagomedov added. “No, he have to fight with really tough opponents, like Justin Gaethje or something like this, and you have to come back to lightweight division. This is just my opinion.”

“I think he’s ducking tough matchups, not only Justin Gaethje. He just choose ‘ok, who’s going to be my next fight, I need easy fight.’ Of course he can because he’s big star.”

Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor by submission in 2018 to defend the UFC lightweight title. Ever since, the two arch enemies have been linked to a potential rematch. Nurmagomedov recognizes that the rematch would generate a lot of attention due to the drama between them, but does not believe it would be competitive.

“People just want to see drama,” Nurmagomedov said. “If you ask people ‘guys, who’s going to win?’ 99, 100% going to say Khabib, like he did the first time. People want to see big drama show.

“If you talk about money, this [rematch] is good. If you talk about drama, this is good. If you talk about real lightweight contender, real lightweight contendership fight, this is not good. This is not real.”

What do you think of these comments from Khabib Nurmagomedov? Do you want to see him fight Conor McGregor again in the future?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/26/2020.