When Eddie Alvarez was given a choice between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, the champion unsurprisingly chose the latter. As stated by Alvarez himself during last week’s UFC 205 pre-fight presser, picking McGregor was “easy money” for him.
This decision had rightfully left number one ranked 155-pound contender Khabib Nurmagomedov in complete disarray, especially after he had signed both contracts for UFC 205 and 206 to fight Alvarez. Speaking to MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas, “The Eagle” claimed Alvarez deliberately avoided a fight against him.
“First of all, the UFC said, ‘Hey, you’re gonna fight on August 27th in Canada (against) Eddie,'” Nurmagomedov explained. “I said yes I’ll take the fight, but Eddie is not (willing) to take the fight. After that, the UFC gave me 205. Eddie said no. After that, the UFC gave me 206. Eddie said no. And now, these guys made this bullsh-t fight (Alvarez vs. McGregor).
“Eddie and his coaches, everybody knows that this is a very tough fight for him. And then he said, ‘Oh, I want an easy fight.’ You’re the champion, you’re the UFC champion, you have to fight the number one-ranked. The number one-ranked is not easy. For me, it’s a crazy decision, but it’s OK, I’m gonna keep going, I’m gonna finish Michael Johnson at UFC 205, and after this, I want to fight for the title.”
Khabib is now slated to fight Michael Johnson for the November 12th card in New York City. After promising a dominant victory, he says he should be getting nothing less than a title shot, next.
“I don’t care about what they say, because the UFC and Dana says these things all the time, but I never believed it. First of all, I have to finish this guy (Johnson), and after, we’ll see what happens. But I know I deserved the title shot, long time ago.”