While the MMA world was impressed with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Octagon return against Darrell Horcher at the UFC On FOX 19 event earlier this month, reigning UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos was not.
After defeating Horcher, “The Eagle” made it clear that he has his sights set on another fight with Dos Anjos, a man he easily defeated inside the Octagon in the past. Dos Anjos, however, made it clear that despite the fact that he lost to Nurmagomedov in the past, he didn’t see anything in his recent fight against Horcher that impressed him.
Dos Anjos recently had the following to say abuot Nurmagomedov’s performance against Horcher, as well as a potential rematch with “The Eagle”:
“I was not even a little impressed. He fought a guy who has a full-time job and took the fight on a week’s notice. After the first minute, with all due respect, (Horcher) looked pink, completely out of shape, and (Khabib) still needed almost two rounds to finish the fight. Congratulations to the opponent that accepted the fight, but there’s no way… When I lost to Khabib, I was ranked No. 5 or 6 and many things have changed since. He beat a guy who has a full-time job, and I beat Jason High, Ben Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone. He’s saying he needs some rest because he trained for three months for this fight? Wait a minute… Forty days after fighting him, I fought Jason High. Two months later, I fought Ben Henderson. When you want the belt, you have to work for it. I think that after a performance like that, he should at least fight Tony Ferguson in May. Now he beats a guy who has a full-time job and thinks he deserves a title shot? In my opinion, he does not. He has to work more. He can’t live the rest of his life saying ‘oh, I beat Rafael, I’m the champion without the belt’. He has to work.”
H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing the above quote.
