Khabib Nurmagomedov: ”I’m going to beat Tony Ferguson and then McGregor has to beg me for a title shot”

Nu är det mindre än tre veckor kvar till att Khabib Nurmagomedov och Tony Ferguson möts i vad som mycket väl kan vara en av de mest framemotsedda matcherna i MMA:s lättviktsdivision någonsin.

Matchen går av stapeln på UFC 223 i Brooklyn den 8:e april, och titeln i den mest konkurrensutsatta divisionen kommer stå på spel. UFC:s president, Dana White, har meddelat att den nuvarande mästaren, Conor McGregor, kommer att fråntas sitt bälte lagom till matchen.

I en intervju med Megan Olivi blir Nurmagomedov ombedd att dela med sig av sina tankar kring topp fem i divisionen.

Den självsäkre dagistaniern tycks inte särskilt imponerad.

Om Eddie Alvarez

He took a lot of shots. He’s become like old.

Om Justin Gaethje

He’s a tough guy. He has to change [his] game. All the time wars, he has to change this. Because I know he’s a good wrestler. I think he has to mix wrestling and hard punches

Om Dustin Poirier

Not bad, but not a tough fight

Om Kevin Lee

He wants to be tough but he have very small heart. Very small heart. Because when he fight with Tony Ferguson, between second and third rounds, you guys can watch his face and understand who he is, everything. Face never lies. When Tony Ferguson talk about ‘this is my mat’, his face agrees with this.

Conor McGregor

UFC’s son or maybe Dana’s son or Dana’s nephew. Something like this. If he has the belt, of course we’re going to fight. But now with what happened to his two belts, everything is finished. I’m going to beat Tony Ferguson and then he has to beg me. You remember his tweet? What’s he going to do? I’m going to take this belt, become undisputed, undefeated lightweight champ. If the UFC tries to put Conor McGregor [in a] fight with me — go in the line, you have to deserve this.

Nedan går det att ta del av intervjun i sin helhet: