Khabib: Ferguson won at UFC 216 because Lee was fighting him ‘like chicken’
Khabib Nurmagomedov does not think too highly of Tony Ferguson’s win against Kevin Lee at UFC 216.
After being on the receiving end of ground-and-pound attacks towards the end of the first round, Tony Ferguson emerged victorious against Kevin Lee to win the interim lightweight title at UFC 216. But as he observed from the sidelines, Khabib Nurmagomedov was not impressed.
“I think [Ferguson] won because Kevin Lee was fighting with him like chicken,” Nurmagomedov said on Monday’s MMA Hour episode (via MMA Fighting). “That’s why he won. Lee] talked too much. He was not focused on the fight; he was focused on, I think, promoting the fight.
“When the fight was beginning, first round, [Lee] beat [Ferguson], and second round, [Lee] stayed with him in his distance, he ate a lot of jabs, and third round, he gave up, because he doesn’t have conditioning. That’s why.”
Khabib went on to look at Ferguson’s past performance against Rafael dos Anjos, and compared it to his own fighting style.
“(Rafael) dos Anjos and Kevin Lee fought with him at his distance,” Nurmagomedov said. “That’s why these guys [lost to] him. But what happens if Ferguson fights a fighter like me, who all the time tries to take him down, smash him on the ground, and never, never stop? All my life, in my amateur career, professional 24 fights, I never tire. Never, ever. In training, amateur fights, and professional fights, I never get tired.”
“All my life, I never tire, I never lose, and I never give up. In training, in amateur fights, in professional fights, I’ve never given up. Never. Nobody has choked me, nobody has submitted me. Never, ever, in all my life. I’m training with a lot of fighters from different weight classes — heavyweight, welterweight, lightweight. You can ask ‘DC,’ you can ask Luke Rockhold, all fighters: I never give up and I never get tired. This is what I want to say about this.”
Khabib is looking to return at UFC 219 and face Ferguson, whom he believes is “the real champion.” Meanwhile, a fully-healed Edson Barboza also claimed that the UFC had offered him a fight against Nurmagomedov, which he says he already accepted.
UFC 219 takes place on December 30th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.