To many casual UFC fans Khabib Nurmagomedov sounds like your typical James Bond Villain. A heavy Russian accent proclaiming the torture of many people’s favorite fighter will give off that distinction but Khabib is much more than a cliché.
Khabib has been the most dominant fighter in the UFC’s lightweight division for years now and if it wasn’t for a succession of ill-timed injuries he’d have received his title shot long ago.
Nevertheless, Khabib is now healthy and ready to prove that he is the best the division has to offer. Luckily for him the man standing atop the division is the most popular fighter in the history of the sport.
Khabib isn’t scared of McGregor’s fame and the usual intimidation that comes along with it. In fact, he’s done nothing but revel in the war of words that accompany the ‘McGregor Show.’
“I want to take him down, speak with him, slap him, make him nervous … like, ‘Hey, get up! Let’s go! Where is your boxing?’ … play with him and make him give up. This is what I want,” said Khabib to TMZSports.
“But I don’t want to finish him 1st round, 2nd round, 3rd round … I want to fight with him for 25 minutes like 5 rounds and I want to make him look very bad. And finish his hype.”
Khabib’s Sambo wrestling style has allowed him to do just what he’s described to every other fighter he’s stepped inside of the cage with and you’d expect nothing else from a man who wrestled bears in his youth. (That’s a story for another time)
Khabib had more than just those few words to say about Conor McGregor.
Flip the Page to Watch Khabib go 80’s Super Villain on Conor…