One of the biggest criticisms against Khabib Nurmagomedov has been his conditioning and pre-fight preparations. Case in point, his scheduled interim lightweight title fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 209 last March was scrapped last minute when he pulled out due to health issues from weight cutting.
Ahead of his upcoming fight against Edson Barboza at UFC 219, Khabib says he is healthy and ready to go.
“I change a lot of things,” Nurmagomedov said during Tuesday’s pre-fight media lunch in Los Angeles (via MMA Fighting). “My weight is perfect. My shape is good. I have three more hard days and I finish all my training camp and focus on making weight. We’ll see. I am not in bad shape. I’m very excited about it. I want to show this.”
Khabib’s weight issues have been a story in itself, and he is fully aware of it. Which is why he finds it entertaining that it is one of the talked about topics ahead of the UFC’s year-end card.
“I think it’s interesting. For people,” Khabib said. “Maybe we’re gonna make pay-per-view on weigh-in. People want to know, is this guy gonna make weight or no? Why not? People waiting not only my fight, people waiting for my weight. It’s OK. It’s gonna be interesting.”
UFC 219 takes place on December 30th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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