Tag: Khabib Nurmagomedov

Justin Gaethje on how he sees Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson fight playing out

Justin Gaethje breaks down the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson fight.

With a fight between [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] and [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag] close to being finalized, top lightweight contender [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] will be watching closely.

UFC lightweight champion Nurmagomedov is expected to face former UFC interim lightweight champ Ferguson on April 18, pending negotiations from Ferguson’s side.

With Nurmagomedov and Ferguson looking to make their fifth booking the charm (four previously scheduled fights between the two have been scrapped), Gaethje proceeded to break down how he sees the fight playing out on a recent episode of Michael Bisping’s “Believe You Me” podcast.

“I do think Khabib will win,” Gaethje said. “But I do think Tony is going to bring some … I don’t know if he’s going to lay on his back and throw elbows, I don’t know what the hell is going to happen there.

“Especially the way Khabib fights, and the way Khabib wins. It’s crazy how much and how hard Tony gets hit, how often he gets hit at fights but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for him in this fight because Khabib is not going to be looking to exploit that, that option. He’s going to do what he does. I’m really interested to see if Tony, his jiu-jitsu, for one, plays a factor, and for two, just his tenaciousness of being on bottom and still wanting to fight.”

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Gaethje has won three straight fights by first-round knockout and finds himself in a bit of a quandary. He has expressed interest in facing Conor McGregor next, but with the UFC rumored to book McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone, where does that leave Gaethje?

All he knows is, his ultimate goal is to challenge Nurmagomedov.

“I’m trying to get to Khabib,” Gaethje said. “Khabib, I know, has publicly stated he does not have many fights left, so I have to fight him before he goes away. I can’t let him go undefeated without at least testing, being able to test him myself. I consider myself one of the most dangerous lightweights in the world and I bring different things that Khabib hasn’t had to deal with, necessarily. I have crazy power in my legs, in my arms, in my hands. I’m really good at wrestling. I’m super athletic. I’ve been wrestling as long as he has. Nobody has wrestled as long as he has except for me. So I’m trying to ultimately get that fight.”

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Plot thickens as UFC tries to book Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson

Here’s hoping the “games” – whatever they might be – stop, everybody gets what they want, and this fight gets finalized.

On Monday, UFC broadcast partner ESPN cited Dana White in reporting that the promotion is targeting a planned April 18 pay-per-view card in Brooklyn to book a highly anticipated title fight between lightweight champion [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] and [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag].

Not long after, Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, posted a photo on Instagram of a purported signed bout agreement by the champ.

As for Ferguson, we heard nothing from him directly. But when MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn reached out to his management group, he was told both parties are “in late stages of negotiations.” Now, that could mean just about anything, but one thing was looking likely: One side wanted to put pressure on the other.

You see where this is going?

Fast forward to Tuesday evening, nearly 24 hours after the news put out there by White and Abdelaziz, and we finally heard from Ferguson himself on Twitter.

No more games. I’m open for business. Time to give the fans what they want 🕶 Champ Shit Only™️ 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 @danawhite @ballengeegroupmma # makeufcgreatagain

You read that? “No more games. I’m open for business.” That might tell us all we need to know about how these negotiations are going:

Who’s playing games and why?

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There’s no question we want to see this fight finally happen after four previously failed attempts. We need to see this fight happen. So here’s hoping the games – whatever they might be – stop, everybody gets what they want, and this thing gets finalized.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

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Report: Dana White wants Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson on April 18

It appears to be far from a done deal, but the UFC boss has made clear this is the fight he wants.

Will the fifth time be the charm for [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag]?

If UFC president Dana White has his way, the most elusive MMA fight of this generation will go down at an as-yet unnamed event on April 18 in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

According to a Monday report by UFC promotional partner ESPN, White said the company hopes to book the fight as the main event for a pay-per-view card at Barclays Center. Neither fighter has commented yet on the potential fight date.

Four times from 2015-18, the UFC attempted to make the bout between Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC), the undefeated UFC lightweight champion, and Ferguson, who has won 12 consecutive fights.

Twice, Nurmagomedov withdrew from the planned matchup. The second time, at UFC 209, he was pulled from his weight cut the day of a planned interim title fight. Ferguson later won the interim belt in a matchup against Kevin Lee at UFC 216.

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Ferguson (25-3 MMA, 15-1 UFC) also pulled out twice from planned meetings. In his case, a fluke knee injury suffered on the FOX lot in Los Angeles a week before his planned UFC 223 championship fight with Nurmagomedov in Brooklyn kicked off a chain reaction of events which included Conor McGregor’s infamous van attack and ended with Nurmagomedov defeating Al Iaquinta.

Nurmagomedov last competed at UFC 242, where he submitted Dustin Poirier to retain his title. Ferguson’s last win was over Anthony Pettis at UFC 229, the co-feature to Nurmagomedov’s main-event win over Conor McGregor.

Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz, posted on his Instagram account a portion of a signed contract on his fighter’s end.

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What could’ve been: 10 of the best booked UFC fights that never happened

Conor McGregor vs. Rafael dos Anjos, Nate Diaz vs. Dustin Poirer, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson, and more make the list.

There have been numerous highly anticipated UFC matchups that have fallen through over the years because of unfortunate circumstances, and they easily could’ve produced fireworks.

From championship fights, to rivalries, to intriguing stylistic pairings, here are 10 of the best scheduled matchups that never ended up happening.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson

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While it appears that another [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag] fight booking is imminent at the time of this writing, let’s just hope the fifth time is the charm.

These two were scheduled to fight on four other occasions, but a series of unfortunate circumstances and injuries has resulted in it never happening. The first booking was during The Ultimate Fighter Finale card on Dec. 11, 2015, when Nurmagomedov was forced out due to injury and replaced by Edson Barboza. Ferguson submitted Barboza in the second round via D’Arce choke, earning both “Performance” and “Fight of the Night” bonuses.

They were then scheduled to fight at UFC on FOX 19 on April 16, 2016, but this time it was Ferguson who pulled out. Ferguson was replaced by newcomer Darrell Horcher, whom Nurmagomedov battered before earning a second-round TKO win.

Then, an interim lightweight championship fight was scheduled to take place at UFC 209 on March 4, 2017, but the fight was canceled due to Nurmagomedov falling ill from a bad weight cut.

Finally, the two were set to meet a fourth time. At UFC 223 in April 2018, Nurmagomedov and then-interim champ Ferguson were going to fight for the undisputed lightweight title. But in a freak accident, Ferguson tripped over a wire and blew out his knee. Max Holloway stepped in briefly, but the New York State Athletic Commission deemed Holloway unfit to compete due to a severe weight cut. Al Iaquinta, who was scheduled to face Paul Felder on the same night, stepped in for the massive opportunity but was dominated by Nurmagomedov in a five-round battle.

Nurmagomedov finally realized his dream of becoming the UFC lightweight champ, and here’s hoping the fight with Ferguson will finally come to fruition in early 2020 as expected.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov: I never enjoy inflicting pain on opponents – except for Conor McGregor

Khabib Nurmagomedov said he doesn’t get a joy out of hurting his opponents, except when he beat Conor McGregor.

[autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] typically mauls people in the cage, but he says he doesn’t necessarily get a joy out of it.

Well, there’s one exception, and the answer is pretty obvious: It’s none other than [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag].

“In the last couple of years, I’ve gone out there and won, and it doesn’t bring me any real joy to be honest, well, with the exception of one fight, let’s say,” Nurmagomedov told RT Sport. “In that fight, I beat that guy with pleasure, I’ll tell you.”

Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC) submitted McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) via fourth-round submission at UFC 229 to retain his UFC lightweight title in a battle that got very ugly in the lead-up. The usually calm and tame Nurmagomedov let his emotions get the best of him after the fight, and he jumped over the cage and attacked McGregor’s corner.

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It wasn’t typical for behavior for Nurmagomedov, who is typically more composed, even while pounding on his opponents while talking to their corner, and even UFC president Dana White. We’ve seen the UFC champ in fights such as his legendary clash with Michael Johnson, where Nurmagomedov was demanding that his opponent tap out and end the one-sided beating.

“I had fights in my career where I understood that I could hurt my opponent more, but I’d talk to him, tell him to give up so that I don’t beat him too hard,” Nurmagomedov said. “For example, if I had a painful hold where I could break something, I wouldn’t tighten it all the way. I’d just fix it so that the opponent would tap out because I have no aim to hurt anyone in this sport. Yes, we compete in a very brutal contact sport, but it’s never my goal to inflict a lot of pain on my opponent.”

“If I understand that I’m winning, I don’t aim to hurt someone bad. Well, except for one fight.”

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Artem Lobov says there’s still some unfinished business with Khabib Nurmagomedov

Artem Lobov says there’s definitely some unsettled business with lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The SBG Ireland vs. Dagestan war may be far from over.

It all started with [autotag]Artem Lobov[/autotag], good friend and training partner of former UFC dual champion Conor McGregor, who was confronted by lightweight champ [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] and his crew backstage at UFC 223.

McGregor came to Lobov’s defense soon after and flew to New York, where he threw a hand truck through the window of a bus that carried Nurmagomedov and his team. Eventually, McGregor and Nurmagomedov fought at UFC 229, where Nurmagomedov retained the lightweight title with a fourth-round submission.

Following his win, Nurmagomedov jumped the cage and attacked McGregor’s corner, and a brawl ensued. But after a few altercations, a brawl, suspensions, and a fight, the bad blood has not boiled over.

Ever since then, McGregor has been campaigning for a rematch, and the man who was initially in the center of it all, Lobov, said things are certainly not cordial between him and Nurmagomdov.

“Definitely, things are not fine,” Lobov told Chael Sonnen. “There’s some unsettled business there, and I think in due course it will all be settled. But as of now, it’s definitely not. Not even close.”

But Lobov admits he doesn’t mind that the beef is not settled, after all, it keeps his name relevant, and his bank account pretty.

“It’s Khabib’s fans obviously, I have a lot of Russian fans, myself, that support me – and obviously he has a lot of guys that support him,” Lobov said. “So obviously his guys that support him, they always have a lot to say about me, but I don’t mind. It keeps my name in the headlines, it keeps my name in the Internet searches, and as a result, it keeps my salary nice and high.”

Since being released by the UFC, Lobov has signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, where he picked up unanimous decision wins over fellow UFC veteran Jason Knight and former boxing world champion Paulie Malignaggi, who infamously had a falling out with McGregor when helping him prepare for his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.

Lobov is set to rematch Knight at BKFC 9 on Nov. 16 in the night’s headliner.

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Bellator 233’s Kyle Crutchmer happy to be compared to teammates Cormier, Khabib – if he has bank account to match

“If my bank account says what ‘D.C.’ and Khabib’s say, you can compare me to whoever you want to compare me to.”

THACKERVILLE, Okla. – With his strong wrestling background, [autotag]Kyle Crutchmer[/autotag] is happy to draw comparisons to his teammates – but not necessarily to their fighting styles.

Crutchmer (5-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, has a strong grappling background like former two-division UFC champion [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] and UFC lightweight champ [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag], his teammates at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.

Crutchmer improved to 5-0 Friday at Bellator 233 in his promotional debut with a unanimous decision win over Robert Gidron. He used his superior wrestling to control the fight and showed off some of his striking, too.

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But with inevitable comparisons to his accomplished wrestling teammates at AKA, Crutchmer is more concerned with making similar paydays down the line.

“I don’t know how many people knock dudes down with spinning back fists, but I threw that (expletive) today – it landed, it knocked him down, so I’ve got a little bit different style from (them),” Crutchmer told MMA Junkie. “But listen, man, at the end of the day, if my bank account says what ‘D.C.’ and Khabib’s say – man, you can compare me to whoever you want to compare me to.”

His opponent, Gidron, stepped in on short notice for the fight. But the natural middleweight missed weight for the 170-pound bout by nearly five pounds. While Crutchmer is accustomed to being the smaller opponent, he says Gidron had an apparent size difference, a challenge he was able to overcome.

“My wrestling kind of speaks for itself,” Crutchmer said. “I think I would be dumb to not at least attempt it in the first, to see how hard or how easy it would be. Man, that guy was big. People don’t realize – he missed weight by five pounds. He’s never fought at (1)70, I don’t think, so he had some height on me, too. So some of those things, I was trying to get to. It took a lot more than people could see.”

And there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to accept the fight regardless, as he looks to begin his ascent in the Bellator 170-pound rankings.

“I’m in this to prove I’m the baddest mother(expletive) in the world, and if I’m turning down fights or I’m saying no to somebody, then why am I doing this?” Crutchmer said. “I knew it was going to be hard. You could see it, how big he was, and that does play a factor in fights. I had no hesitation. I told our coaches, ‘I’ll get paid a little bit more and we’ll roll with it.'”