Dan Henderson: Khabib Nurmagomedov would “beat the piss out of” Conor McGregor

Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC 205, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor thumped Eddie Alvarez to claim the UFC lightweight title. In doing so, he became the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two divisions concurrently.

Having achieved this history-making win, McGregor’s hype reached new and unprecedented levels, as he scaled pound-for-pound lists and found himself being mentioned in greatest-of-all-time debates that used to be reserved for names like Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko and Jon Jones.

Not everyone, however, is a McGregor believer. MMA legend Dan Henderson, who recently retired after a razor close decision loss to middleweight champion Michael Bisping, is one member of the MMA community who is still not quite sold on the Irish star.

On a recent episode of The Adam Carolla Show Henderson explained that he doesn’t believe McGregor’s reign as a two-division champion will last very long. In fact, he believes it ends as soon as the Irishman takes on undefeated lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“I think that kid that fought last weekend, I have trouble with his name, Magomedov, the Russian kid, that’s at 155 – I think he would definitely give Conor a huge problem,” Henderson said, referring to Nurmagomedov.

“I think [Nurmagomedov] definitely would take him down and beat the piss out of him,” he continued. 

While Henderson’s confidence in a Nurmagomedov win might give the impression that he – like many – is a McGregor hater, he went on to assure that he has nothing against the Irishman. Though it took him awhile to come around, he has no problem acknowledging the two-division champ’s talent.

“I don’t dislike him,” Henderson said of McGregor. “I think it took me a while to kinda get onboard with him, just to see a little bit more well-roundedness. He’s always shown that he’s got good hands, good kicks, but to see him against a couple different wrestlers that had good hands, it took me awhile to get onboard with him.”

How do you think a McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov bout would play out? Do you think Henderson’s prediction is accurate? Sound off, PENN Nation!