During a UFC On FOX 30 Q&A session yesterday, lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov revealed that he not only wants to beat his rival Conor McGregor, he wants to do it in a manner that will make him pay for everything he’s said and done in the lead-up to their long-awaited showdown.
“My plan is make him fight,” Nurmagomedov told fans in Calgary, Canada. “Make him fight, make him tired, and make him give up. This is my plan. I don’t want to finish him early. I want to make him pay, about all things, what happened. You know, I can’t believe enough we’re finally going to fight. I can’t believe. Wait to sign, wait on where we’re going to fight.
“When cage close, I’m going to believe. But, before? No way.”
Nurmagomedov also responded to what appeared to be a veiled threat from McGregor stating, “Cavalry, Canada,” on social media, not long after accepting a plea deal in New York City in relation to an attack on a fighter bus containing Nurmagomedov back in April that also involved several members of the Irishman’s entourage.
“If you have problem with somebody, why you need come with 30 people and with camera?” Nurmagomedov said. “Why? For what? I don’t understand this. For me, interesting. Like, yesterday UFC called me, ‘Hey, we need you, we have to talk with you,’ and my manager go talk with them. They say we have to give you couple security guys, because [McGregor] put tweet, and after, he delete. After court he put tweet about, ‘Calvary, let’s go to Calgary.’ Hey, why you need cavalry? Come alone and send me location and that’s it.”
Nurmagomedov also shut down any talk that McGregor can beat him in the Octagon, explaining exactly why he thinks there’s no doubt that he’s going to emerge with his hand raised.
“It’s impossible, brother. No really, I think it’s impossible. This is what I think. If I try to take him down one time and he defends very good, I’m going to try to do this 100 times. What he going to do? He don’t have conditioning, he don’t have wrestling, he don’t have grappling. When he tired, he don’t have heart. What happen? He have only very good left hand. I agree with this, he have very good left hand. But what he going to do?
“I’m going to cut this angle and try to take him down 100 times, and it’s going to be different fight. People think, okay, if Khabib going to fight like I fight versus Iaquinta, okay, he can beat me. But you have to watch all my fights, all my 10 fights, it’s all different. When I fight with (Edson) Barboza, (Rafael) dos Anjos, Michael Johnson, all fight is different. And we will see. We will see.”
Watch Nurmagomedov’s full UFC On FOX 30 Fan Q&A session below.
