Khabib Nurmagomedov has moved to discredit Conor McGregor’s comeback victory in the UFC, reiterating the result against Donald Cerrone was a foregone conclusion.
McGregor took just 40 seconds to stop Cerrone last month in his first win in the MMA promotion since 2016.
Nurmagomedov, who McGregor is desperate to rematch, had already questioned the credibility of the contest, but the Russian insisted he does not believe Cerrone deliberately lost the bout.
‘A big organization with a lot of history won’t take such risks,’ Nurmagomedov replied when asked if he thought the bout was ‘fixed’.
‘If someone finds out that the fight was fixed, it would be a huge blow to the UFC’s reputation.
‘They picked a good opponent though – an opponent that never won anything serious.
‘He could have kept winning and winning and when it came time for a big fight, and just gave up because he’s mentally weak. It’s just a well-organised circus.’
Dana White is hoping to match McGregor with Nurmagomedov in the next year, but the lightweight champion has repeatedly said he does not want to fight his bitter rival again.
Nurmagomedov convincingly beat McGregor in their first fight in October 2017 and dismissed the idea a win over Cerrone puts the Irishman in a top contender spot.
‘Cowboy’ Cerrone suffered multiple injuries in the opening 30 seconds against McGregor, but Nurmagomedov insists the result was meaningless.
‘[The UFC] picked an opponent for his (McGregor’s) return so as to “wow” people,’ he explained.
‘Why? Because 90 per cent of people who watch MMA have no clue about the sport. They just watch it and don’t even know the names. And the other 10 per cent.
‘Millions of people watch, but there aren’t a million fighters. There are 300, 400, 500 that fight in the UFC.
‘They have trainers, so let’s say 10,000 people that know MMA.
‘They see who loses and under what circumstances, what moves, when he fought, where he fought, what organization.
‘Few people know those details, others just don’t care who’s fighting and how, who he fought in the past, who the opponent is, they don’t know anything.
‘They just watch the fight. And UFC works very well with that.
‘So they picked him (Cerrone) and their plan worked and people started to talk about it again, about a rematch and other stuff. Cerrone lost seven out of his last 10 fights.
‘A man comes out 10 times and loses seven, and he gets called a legend.
‘Well, let him be a legend, but his time is up.’
Nurmagomedov already has a fight booked in April, when the will take on Tony Ferguson in their long-awaited showdown.
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