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Tag: khabib

  • Khabib Responds To Jake Paul’s Challenge: “Come On”

    Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t taking Jake Paul’s challenge all that seriously.

    Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov knows a trolljob when he hears one. When the Dagestani caught wind that Paul was teasing making a crossover into MMA, he offered to make his Eagle FC promotion the YouTuber’s MMA home. Paul then came back with the following counteroffer:

    “Deal,” Paul said. “Only if I fight you first.”

    Jake Paul has said in the past that Khabib is the only fighter that he would never troll and that if he ever did call him out, it would be respectful. So maybe this isn’t a trolljob after all but rather the respectful callout he prophesized last fall.

    When appearing on The Full Send Podcast, Khabib was asked to respond to Paul’s proposal. During his young career as an MMA promoter, the Dagestani has proven that he is fully committed to doing whatever it takes to grow the Eagle FC brand. But unretiring in order to fight an 0-0 Jake Paul is not a sacrifice this dedicated boss is willing to make.

    And Khabib believes that the former Disney actor is very fortunate that is the case.

    “Come on. Come on, Jake Paul. I don’t think so. In MMA, like couple minutes,” Khabib said of a potential bout between the two athletes.

    Khabib may be willing to give Paul an opportunity to gain experience in Eagle FC, but from the little bit of footage he’s seen, a competition between the two of them isn’t worthy of any serious deliberation.

    “He late a little bit. ’Cause I’m finished,” Khabib said. “Of course, they can think about this. I watched his—it was sparring or I watch some video (of him) doing MMA with someone. He have to learn a lot.”

    Khabib may be referring to a video Paul released of him training leg kicks. He may also be referring to a dated video of the YouTuber getting submitted by Bellator’s AJ Agazarm in 2017. Either way, the undefeated grappler thinks Paul would be better served fighting a more handpicked opponent that is more suitable for a beginner.

    “If he want, we can give him chance,” Khabib said. “We can sign him, and we can pay him. And we’ll see.”

    Would you have any interest in watching Khabib maul—I mean fight Jake Paul?

  • Archives: Eddie Alvarez: I’m The Only Man Who Can Beat Khabib (2021)

    Months after Khabib had retired from MMA, a name from his past argued that he was the only man who could defeat the undefeated Dagestani.

    The following article was published on this day one year ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.

    [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 29, 2021, 6:10 PM]

    Headline: Eddie Alvarez: I’m The Only Man Who Can Beat Khabib

    Eddie Alvarez believes he is the only fight that would make sense for Khabib Nurmagomedov to come out of retirement.

    29 men have tried to topple the unbeaten and seemingly flawless UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and all have failed. As the speculation of whether or not Khabib will pursue a 30-0 record spreads, in another world, perhaps he would already be 30-0, with Eddie Alvarez being on The Eagle’s victims list.

    Back in 2016, Eddie Alvarez was the UFC lightweight champion and there were talks of him potentially defending the title against Khabib. In fact, Khabib claims he was sent a “fake contract” to fight Alvarez as a negotiation ploy to lure Conor McGregor into accepting the terms for the UFC 205 main event against Alvarez. McGregor would later dominate Alvarez to become the “Champ-Champ, and Khabib would virally call “Number-1 Bullshit” on the whole fiasco.

    Eddie Alvarez Believes He Is Khabib’s Toughest Matchup

    Morning Report: Eddie Alvarez wants to fight the winner of Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz, says 'who gives a s*** about rankings?' - MMA Fighting
    Former UFC Champion Eddie Alvarez. Image Credit: Esther Lin

    Fast forward to 2021 and now Khabib Nurmagomedov is the lightweight champion, and it is Eddie Alvarez who says that a fight between the two would make sense, even though Alvarez is currently competing for another promotion.

    “I’m his only matchup that would make any sense, or give him a terrible time,” Alvarez told Morning Kombat. “There’s one guy that gave him a terrible time in the whole division, and this is just the truth. (Gleison) Tibau gave him a terrible time because Tibau was not overly great at anything.

    “Neither am I. I’m not overly great at anything. You say ‘What is Eddie great at?’ I’m not great at anything. I’m not a great striker, I’m not a great wrestler or great jiu-jitsu guy… I’m athletic, I have a strong spirit, a strong heart, and I will fight, I’ll fight to the death.”

    Eddie Alvarez currently competes for ONE Championship, a promotion Alvarez has called home since 2019. Alvarez is 1-1 in the promotion and has lost two of his last three fights overall.

    How do you think a fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Eddie Alvarez would play out?

  • Archives: White Says Khabib Has Temporarily Lifted Retirement (2021)

    The following article was published on this day one year ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.

    [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 16, 2021, 4:10 PM]

    Headline: Khabib Temporarily Lifts Retirement Pending UFC 257 Performances

    We finally know the outcome of Dana White’s meeting with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

    Khabib Nurmagomedov’s shocking MMA retirement may be over almost as abruptly as it was announced. Yesterday, Khabib and Dana White had their long-anticipated meeting to confirm whether or not he was retired. The idea to have the meeting was brought up by Dana White when he believed the retirement may have been an emotional decision.

    “Well, like I said, I thought that, in his last fight, his father had passed away, he’d been away from his family during that time, he got injured while he was training, and I thought that he made an emotional decision,” Dana White said on the UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar broadcast. “There was no reason to make a hasty decision like that then. We didn’t have to. I talked to him. I told him to take his time. We would get together later on. And last night, we did.”

    Dana White Reveals Khabib’s Decision

    White would go on to tell us the specifics of what was said in the meeting, but unfortunately, there still is no definitive answer on whether or not Khabib will fight again. But based on White’s paraphrasing of Khabib, it seems much more likely than not that we’ll see the champion defend the lightweight title again.

    “And basically, the way that he feels right now is he’s accomplished everything he’s set out to accomplish. He thought that Oliveira looked really good in his last fight against Tony Ferguson. So next Saturday, we got the McGregor/Poirier fight and Chandler/Hooker on there.

    “So his words to me were, ‘I’m gonna watch this fight.’ He said, ‘I would never tie up the division. I would never tie up the division, hold the belt, keep the belt away from anybody else. These guys do something spectacular, show me something spectacular, and make me want to come back and fight.’”

    Charles Oliveira defeated Tony Ferguson at UFC 256 and is currently ranked #3. Michael Chandler, of course, is unranked and may only able to make it up to #6 if he defeats Dan Hooker, who currently occupies that position.  As for the UFC 257 headliners, Conor McGregor is ranked #4, and Dustin Poirier is ranked #1, so those two names may be in the best position to get the next crack at Khabib in terms of rankings in case you needed any more reason to watch that epic rematch.

    UFC 257 takes place next Saturday, January 23, 2021 streaming live on ESPN+.

    What’s your take on the outcome of the Dana White/Khabib meeting?