Khabib accuses McGregor of ‘ducking tough match-ups’, says he’s not deserving of title rematch

Bloodyelbow.com

Khabib Nurmagomedov has doubled down on his criticism of Conor McGregor, accusing his UFC lightweight rival of ‘ducking tough match-ups’ and looking for the easiest fights available.

Nurmagomedov, who submitted McGregor to retain his lightweight title at UFC 229, dismissed McGregor’s 40-second TKO of Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 and said the Irishman should return to lightweight and beat some top contenders if he ever wants to fight for the title again.

“‘Cowboy’ always loses all his main-event fights, always,” Khabib said in a recent interview with TMZ, per Low Kick MMA’s Jordan Ellis. “I don’t remember when he win. In the last 10 fights, I think he’s lose 7 times — six or seven times.

“He’s not high-level lightweight or welterweight right now. He’s not. Of course, he has a big name but his time is finished.

“Conor [needs to] pick very good opponent. Now he come back and beat ‘Cowboy,’ who lose last 10 fights seven times, and then they talk about this guy come back.”

“No, he has to fight really tough opponents like Justin Gaethje or something like this. He has to come back to lightweight division. He has to cut welterweight, and this is just my opinion.”

“I think he [is] just ducking tough match-ups. Not only just Justin Gaethje, he’s just, ‘Who’s gonna be my next fight? I need this fight.’

“Of course, he can because he’s big star, but anyway, let’s talk about me, let’s talk about my next fight.”

Khabib’s next fight will be a lightweight title defense against Tony Ferguson, with both men scheduled to meet in the UFC 249 main event (April 18, 2020) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

McGregor, meanwhile, is expected to return to the Octagon this summer to take on Justin Gaethje.