Khabib Nurmagomedov Frustrated At Pull Out Accusations, Talks Potential Return Date
Khabib Nurmagomedov may not be fighting at UFC 249 — but it’s not because he pulled out of the fight.
Nurmagomedov confirmed on Wednesday that he would not be able to defend his lightweight title against Tony Ferguson on April 18 as he will remain in quarantine in Russia due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The unfortunate news meant the dream Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson matchup was now called off for an unprecedented fifth time. Many fans on social media have since blamed Nurmagomedov while the likes of Ferguson and Conor McGregor have echoed the same feelings.
That seems to have rattled Nurmagomedov who responded to those accusations in an Instagram Live session on Thursday.
“You know what’s interesting? My name is Khabib, I am not coronavirus,” Nurmagomedov said (via MMA Fighting). “My name is not coronavirus. Dana is Dana. Tony Ferguson is Tony Ferguson. My name is Khabib. But No. 1 thing that makes me crazy is when people say I pull out or I do something. I no understand this.
“I’m still training since December. I train very hard since December. I come to U.S. because UFC give me location, New York, Barclays Center. I come to U.S. I train 40 days, then when everything goes crazy, they say U.S. is 100 percent no fight. So we move to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, why? Because they told me 99 percent it’s going to be in Dubai. Like my last training camp, I come to U.S., I train with coach Javier [Mendez] at AKA for 55 days, then we move to Abu Dhabi because fight was in Abu Dhabi. That’s why we moved to Abu Dhabi. I understand. If Abu Dhabi, no problem. We did this before, we’re going to do this one more time. Let’s go Abu Dhabi. We come, they close gate. This is not my problem. I don’t make mistake. One more time, I want to say I am Khabib, I am not coronavirus.”
Nurmagomedov went on to add that a potential return date for him could be in August. Of course, it all depends on what the global situation is at the time.
“So much questions but no answers but we’ll see what’s going to happen,” Nurmagomedov added. “I hear UFC work on making a show in San Francisco in August. This is one is very good. Maybe in August everything is maybe finished but nobody knows. I hear they’re going to make show in Abu Dhabi in middle of September. September in Abu Dhabi. August in San Francisco.
“Maybe, I don’t know. If now they can’t make show, of course after Ramadan is going to be August. But right now in U.S. everything goes crazy. Nobody knows when this thing’s going to go down. Nobody knows. Maybe June. Maybe July. But for sure, April, May is going to be crazy months. Too much questions. Right now, it’s time to think about [health]. Stay healthy. Take care of yourself.”
What do you make of Nurmagomedov’s response?
