Khabib Nurmagomedov continues to be reluctant to get behind a rematch with Conor McGregor, with his latest reasoning being that the only reason people want to see it is for the drama, rather than realistically thinking that ‘The Notorious’ would have a chance of beating him.
“I think people want to see – just continue what happened last time,” Nurmagomedov told TMZ Sports. “They just want to see drama. Like if you ask people, ‘What do you think guys? Who do you think is going to win?’ 99 percent are going to say, ‘Like he did the first time.’ People just want to see big drama show, only for this one.”
Nurmagomedov went on to emphasize that it’s legacy fights that motivate him, not money and drama.
“If we’re talking about money, this is good. If we’re talking about drama, this is good. If we’re talking about real lightweight contender or real lightweight championship fight, this is not good. This is not real lightweight championship fight, but if we talk about drama and money, of course this is good, but I come here to make my legacy.
“For my legacy, I have to beat tough opponents like Dustin Poirier, like (Al) Iaquinta. … Right now, it’s Tony Ferguson. I have to beat all of them who’s real contenders, not fake contenders.”
Khabib also went on to criticize McGregor for ducking other tough opponents that the champion feels he needs to beat in order to prove himself worthy of fighting him again.
“He has to fight with really tough opponents like Justin Gaethje or something like this, and he have to come back to lightweight division. He have to cut weight; this is just my opinion.”
“I think he’s ducking tough matchups, not only Justin Gaethje. He just choose, ‘OK, who’s going to be my next fight? Like, I need easy fight.’”
