Khabib Nurmagomedov rips Conor McGregor, shuts down rematch talk

From the moment Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor in the UFC 229 main event in October, there has been talk of an immediate rematch between the two lightweight stars.

The fight wasn’t particularly competitive, but it was a massive financial success, and a rematch would surely be the same. And of course, McGregor’s fight-altering power — and the ever present possibility of a knockout that it creates — will always make his fights interesting.

According to Khabib Nurmagomedov himself, however, there will be no rematch with Conor McGregor. Not any time soon, at least. He’s got other opponents to take care of first.

The UFC lightweight champion shut down this prospective matchup at a UFC 242 press conference in London, England on Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/btsportufc/status/1138821341673664512

“He tapped,” Nurmagomedov said, referencing his October win over McGregor (h/t Greg Rosenstein). “He begged me, ‘please don’t kill me.’ Now we’re talking rematch? Tony Ferguson on the line. People who have a win streak on the line. Not the guy who has done nothing the last three years.”

Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov’s manager, recently made similar comments about a rematch between the two stars.

“McGregor didn’t beg enough,” he told TMZ, explaining why Khabib Nurmagomedov rejected a rematch with Conor Mcgregor. “He didn’t beg enough. He faked a broken hand. He doesn’t want to fight. He’s an Instagram model, like I said before. He wants to keep himself relevant.

“Khabib said it [himself],” Abdelaziz continued. “He’s going to change his face, he’s going to change his mind, and you’ve seen it, [McGregor] is like a crazy man. I doubt he’ll ever fight again.

“We don’t care about him. We finished him. Khabib finished him in the fourth round, dropped him with a punch. He’s supposed to be the Muhammad Ali of MMA. We showed he’s just hype. McGregor was just hype.”

Do you think we’ll ever see a rematch between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/12/2019.