Khabib Nurmagomedov News

Justin Golightly - January 5, 2018

It seems like Khabib Nurmagomedov is making up for lost time. His dominant performance over Michael Johnson at UFC 205 was November of 2016. He didn’t fight until he met Edson Barboza in the Octagon at UFC 219. He not only made weight, put on a ‘Performance of the Night’ against a top five lightweight, but he hasn’t stopped talking since. In the new preview for UFC’s ‘The Thrill and the Agony’ episode, it reveals what Nurmagomedov said to White directly after his UFC 219 victory. “I’m here for three months without my family. My wife is pregnant. I didn’t cry one and a half years, ‘Oh, my wife is pregnant,’ but I came here like a man because I try to stay busy. Without an injury, I can smash all lightweights.”  —Khabib Nurmagomedov right after beating Edson Barboza at UFC 219.

Justin Golightly - January 4, 2018

It looks like Khabib Nurmagomedov’s convincing and violent marketing campaign has paid off. He was talking to Dana White in between dominating Edson Barboza at UFC 219, even waiting on him at his car to speak with him in the parking lot. Everything with Conor McGregor is still up in the air, so the UFC is now moving on with or without him. The plan right now is for Nurmagomedov to finally fight Tony Ferguson. It will depend on McGregor if that fight is for the interim or the undisputed UFC lightweight title. “As long as Conor [McGregor] is willing to fight by March, we could do Khabib [Nurmagomedov] versus Tony [Ferguson]. We could do Khabib versus Tony and then the winner fights Conor for the title. Or, Conor doesn’t want to fight and wants to sit out until next fall, then we would have to make Khabib vs. Tony for the title – not the interim title.”

Russell Sai - January 3, 2018

Khabib Nurmagomedov dazzled a lot of people with his performance over Edson Barboza at UFC 219. Although a few people including Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson were not so impressed by Nurmagomedov’s performance, UFC commentator Joe Rogan was blown away and has talked about a matchup between McGregor and Nurmagomedov as that is undeniably a very intriguing matchup in the UFC lightweight division. Ferguson tweeted after UFC 219, “Yo @joerogan Last Time I Checked I Was The Fuckin Champ… U Trading The 10P Gear For A Hat?”

Justin Golightly - January 3, 2018

Imagine watching Khabib Nurmagomedov dominating arguably the most dangerous striker in the lightweight division. Not only that, but somehow he’s talking to you while he’s doing it. Now imagine that this man is waiting on your car after UFC 219 to talk with you. That’s what happened to Dana White at UFC 219. Nurmagomedov greeted White with his signature ‘papakha’ hat and a speech to end all post-fight speeches. Making the point that Conor McGregor took a paternity leave from the UFC for his son’s birth, while Khabib stayed and beat Edson Barboza. “I tell [Dana White] hey, today when I fight, my son is born. I tell him hey, you remember one year ago? All MMA fans one year waiting for Conor [McGregor’s] son, but I’m here. For my fans, for my legacy, for my history, for everything. I need real fight. Tony [Ferguson] or Conor. Doesn’t matter. Please give me both. He said, ‘You deserve everything what you want.’ And he told me, ‘Performance of the night is yours.'”

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

He’s back and everyone is terrified. Khabib Nurmagomedov made weight with no problems and went in there to take on arguably his biggest challenge yet in Edson Barboza. His performance was as dominant as any other fight he’s had. Against Michael Johnson, against former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, it doesn’t matter, so far Nurmagomedov has done whatever he wanted to his opponents. On Joe Rogan’s MMA Show today, Rogan and new free broadcasting agent Jimmy Smith talked about how much of a beast Nurmagomedov is. “[Khabib] Nurmagomedov just mauled [Edson Barboza]. Mauled him. I mean, mauled him in a way that you go, ‘Oh God.’ He’s just on such another level that the odds of you beating him drop so substantially after the first minute and a half. After you get – you saw the look on Barboza’s face there’s like, two minutes plus into the first round and he’s trying to get up. You see the look on his face and he’s like, ‘F-ck, how am I going to deal with this?’ Like, this is so next level.” — Joe Rogan today on his MMA Show.

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

Throwback to 2015 when Conor McGregor predicted that Khabib Nurmagomedov would one day have the Lightweight title. pic.twitter.com/pzJT9U6WoR — UFC India (@UFCIndia) December 31, 2017

Tom Taylor - January 2, 2018

Now that UFC 219 is in the rear-view mirror, the UFC has updated its official rankings to reflect the results of the card. The most notable changes to the UFC rankings occured on the pound-for-pound list, where Khabib Nurmagomedov made his long-awaited debut, a distinction he earned by pounding Edson Barboza into applesauce in the UFC 219 co-main event. UFC 219 main event winner Cris Cyborg also moved up the list in the wake of her thrilling victory of Holly Holm, while Georges St-Pierre and Conor McGregor arbitrarily switched spots on the pound-for-pound list, despite the fact that neither has competed in recent weeks.

Tom Taylor - January 2, 2018

Over the weekend, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 219, Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up yet another dominant win, violating the dangerous Edson Barboza for three, lopsided rounds, and ultimately capturing a clear unanimous decision. With this win, Nurmagomedov stands out as the clear-cut number one contender in the UFC lightweight division. The big question is whether his long-awaited title shot will come against undisputed champion Conor McGregor or interim champion Tony Ferguson. 

Russell Sai - January 1, 2018

Conor McGregor was surely paying attention to one fight that took place over the weekend at UFC 219. Current number 2 UFC ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov put on another impressive performance with his dominant win over Edson Barboza.

Chris Taylor - January 1, 2018

Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov kicked off the New Year by trading barbs on Twitter. The heated exchange came shortly after Khabib Nurmagomedov’s impressive victory over Edson Barboza in the co-main event of UFC 219 on Saturday night.

Tom Taylor - January 1, 2018

Over the weekend, in the co-main event of UFC 219, Dagestan’s Khabib Nurmagomedov improved to an insane 25-0 overall, bludgeoning Brazilian knockout artist Edson Barboza to a lopsided unanimous decision win. Pretty much everybody was impressed by Nurmagomedov’s insane win – but do not file UFC undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor into that group. On Monday afternoon, the Irish superstar took to Twitter with a brief reaction to Nurmagomedov’s win, referring to it as “dog shit.”

Tom Taylor - January 1, 2018

After watching Khabib Nurmagomedov eat Edson Barboza alive last night, many fight fans now believe the Russian is a nightmare matchup for Conor McGregor. While MMA analyst and current Bellator star Chael Sonnen believes this is true if Nurmagomedov can take Conor McGregor down, he believes McGregor could also pose some problems for Nurmagomedov on the feet. Here’s how Sonnen broke it down.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 219, Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up yet another dominant win, violating the dangerous Edson Barboza for three, brutal rounds, and ultimately capturing a clear unanimous decision. With this win, Nurmagomedov is now an unbelievable 25-0 overall. More importantly, he is the clear-cut, undeniable number-one-contender at lightweight, whether we’re discussing challengers for Conor McGregor‘s undisputed lightweight title or Tony Ferguson’s interim lightweight title. In fact, the three lightweight stars would now seem to have one of the most gripping three-way rivalries in the history of MMA. To commemorate this awesome lightweight rivalry, acclaimed graphic artist BossLogic has created an epic poster that pays tribute to all three fighters. See it below:

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 219, Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up yet another dominant win, brutalizing the dangerous Edson Barboza for three rounds, and ultimately capturing a clear unanimous decision. With this win, Nurmagomedov is now an insane 25-0 overall. He now stands out as the top contender for either UFC undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor, or interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 219, Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up yet another dominant win, violating the dangerous Edson Barboza for three, lopsided rounds, and ultimately capturing a clear unanimous decision. With this win, Nurmagomedov is now an insane 25-0 overall, and could very easily be the best lightweight on earth. UFC undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor and interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, of course, will likely have something to say about that.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

Pros react to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s dominant victory over Edson Barboza! Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up a dominant decision victory over Edson Barboza in the co-main event of tonight’s UFC 219 fight card in Las Vegas.

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

Whether you’re working in MMA media or just a fan, fights can be stressful. We always have our favorites and we all get invested. It’s easy to log on to Twitter and talk as much (or more) trash to ‘haters’ of the fighter we root for, spouting off encyclopedic facts or quality of opponents and skill clashes. Now imagine that you’re in a relationship with one of those fighters. Not just in any organization, but fighting in the co-main event sport for a UFC pay-per-view. Bruna Barboza, Edson Barboza’s wife, recently gave some candid insight into what that is like. “[Edson Barboza]’s unbearable when he’s cutting weight [laughs]. Before we had [our son] Noah, I used to go with him to every fight. We flew on a Tuesday and he didn’t eat anything before the fight. We wouldn’t talk because he was unbearable. One day I ate a cereal bar and he said, ‘Why are you eating this in front of me? Are you trying to piss me off?’ Imagine if I was eating a brownie [laughs]. I can’t speak with him on fight week, not even a ‘hi’ or ‘good morning. I don’t watch the fight if I don’t go to the arena because I think it’s horrible. I don’t know what will happen, if he’s going to get hurt, and I won’t be there to help.”

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

The main and co-main event of UFC 219 are some of the best fights all year, with the match-ups that we’ve had in 2017, that’s high praise. Cris Cyborg defending her women’s UFC featherweight title against Holly Holm is arguably the biggest female fight of all-time. Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov makes his triumphant return to fight against top contender and dangerous striker Edson Barboza in a war for title contention. It’s interesting to see Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh’s outlook on the match-ups — especially the co-main event — seeing as how he could still be a future opponent for McGregor, especially if he does end up ever fighting in Russia. “Khabib [Nurmagomedov] by stoppage in the championship rounds. He will be hit in the first but wrestling, in particular his body lock, will break [ Edson] Barboza as fight progresses. Ground-and-pound stoppage in fourth or fifth round. [Holly] Holm by stoppage within three rounds. The lack of size advantage [for Cris Cybog] plus Holm’s technical ability in striking will decide this. Cyborg relies on strength and intimidation a lot, she wont have that here.” – John Kavanagh via his Twitter.