Khabib is invigorated by his latest victory and ready to make the claim to the division belt after scoring a decision victory against Edson Barbosa.
“When I’m injured, they talk too much,” Nurmagomedov said after his dominant pay-per-view win over Edson Barboza at UFC 219, which took place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “But when I’m healthy, I don’t see these guys.”
“Tony or Conor, don’t matter,” he said. “Maybe they’re … maybe if the UFC approves, I can fight with these guys in the same night. I swear, no joke.
Khabib throws a flying knee, then gets Barboza to the ground here in round 1!! @TeamKhabib #UFC219 pic.twitter.com/1o0QV8qsVZ
— UFC (@ufc) December 31, 2017
Relentless pressure by @TeamKhabib 👀#UFC219 pic.twitter.com/lWSQiYUywL
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) December 31, 2017
Relentless @TeamKhabib#UFC219 pic.twitter.com/3syaUePcfP
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) December 31, 2017
“The look in Barboza’s face says it all. He’s just overwhelmed.”
Agree w/ @JoeRogan? #UFC219 pic.twitter.com/RNN67dannx
— UFC (@ufc) December 31, 2017
Barboza lands a spinning heel kick, but @TeamKhabib walks through it.
Barboza throws it again, and Khabib ducks under. 😳 #UFC219 pic.twitter.com/X93wI9235q
— UFC (@ufc) December 31, 2017
“Maybe I have to stay humble, but tonight, I have to smash these guys and get these guys back, because these guys talk too much when I’m injured.”
“The real belt is 25-0,” Nurmagomedov said. “Others are all fake belts. But to be honest, I think Tony Ferguson has the real belt. Conor, he only has one fight in the UFC at lightweight, and he’s champion. He beat Eddie Alvarez. (Conor is) a good fighter, but he’s not the champ. I think a lot of people can beat him at 155. This is my opinion.”
Khabib added:
“He has good boxing and good timing. But he doesn’t have wrestling, he doesn’t have grappling, and he doesn’t have conditioning. But he has the belt. This is not about him. The UFC wanted this.”
H/t to Sonny Brown for composing an excellent Khabib grappling study recently:
