On This Day Three Years Ago…
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2, 2018, 11:00 AM]
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov fully understands the situation that he is stepping into when he fights the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor at the UFC 229 pay-per-view event.
Obviously, the UFC and its President Dana White are hoping that McGregor will win this fight. They want/need their biggest draw on pay-per-view to be a winner as that will boost his value as the biggest star that they have under contract right now.
Khabib brought up in a recent interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that he could hear White asking someone to bring over McGregor’s belts at the UFC 229 pre-fight press conference. That didn’t make Khabib very happy as he went off on not only McGregor but White.
“Dana needs (to stop kissing his) ass,” Nurmamedov said (transcript courtesy of MMAJunkie). “This is what Dana needs. And that’s it. Because how Dana can say, ‘Hey, where is Conor belts?’ He don’t know what happened the last two years? Max Holloway, how many times Max Holloway defend his title?
“He forget two years, if you don’t fight, UFC going to take your belt. And the UFC lightweight division had to move. Dana forget this? Hey, UFC has finally lightweight champion. Now we talk about Conor belt – he loses it. He lose his belt. He lose his mind, not only belt.”
“Of course,” Nurmagomedov said. “Of course they want (him to) win. I feel like, with me, UFC happy, too, because I have big name, too. But right now, I don’t talk about all people in the UFC. Some people want (him) to win. Of course. Because he have big name. They can make a lot of money with him. Why they need someone come to mount him and smash his face, crush his hype? They don’t need this.”
The upcoming UFC 229 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, October 6, 2018, from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET. The preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
