Khabib Nurmagomedov has had it with the fingers being pointed at him for “backing out of” UFC 249. In a recent interview with ESPN’s Bret Okamoto, Khabib expressed his frustration regarding the way he is being blamed for the fifth canceled fight between him and Tony Ferguson.
The Eagle had left the USA amid rising cases of COVID-19. He had traveled to Abu Dhabi, from where he further went on to Dagestan, Russia. Soon after he reached, Russia placed travel bans and closed its borders owing to the widespread pandemic.
Thus, he is now stuck in his country. And while people anticipate that the UFC will somehow bring him back, Khabib is not ready to go through the trouble. Firstly because he says he wants to be there for his family. Secondly, the UFC has not yet decided on a location for UFC 249. Thus, he finds it pointless to travel to a place where he will not ultimately fight.
He said,
“Everything [that] happened, everybody knows. I can’t control this! Like I said before, my name is Khabib. I am not Coronavirus. I don’t understand these people. Like, this is not my mistake. Coronavirus [came] to us. I [didn’t] bring Coronavirus. This is not my job!
Khabib Nurmagomedov blames “unprofessional” UFC for chaos revolving around UFC 249
Carrying on with the interview, Khabib made it clear that everything that is transpiring is completely out of his hands.
In his defense, he did make some valid points. For starters, he is the champion. Any fight that he participates in, he deals with it with extreme dedication and discipline.
Thus, when it comes to a legacy fight with possibly the toughest opponents he has faced, he can not compromise with training. He said that with the UFC continuing to keep the fighters in the dark about the location of the event, there is nothing he can do. This is because he requires a little breathing space wherein he can travel to the location well in time, get acclimatized, get rid of the jet-lag, train properly in the last few hours, and execute his performance.
However, due to the pandemic, UFC has still not decided on a location. And Khabib Nurmagomedov is not happy with the fact that he is the one facing the fire for it.
He said,
“This is not a regular fight. 16 days before the fight, I do not know the location. What is this?! This is not professional.”
Yet, he also mentioned that if the UFC were to give him the location right now, he will make an appearance for UFC 249 on 18 April.
Do you think Dana White will be able to pull an end-moment miracle?
The post “This Is Not My Job!”- Khabib Nurmagomedov Lashes Out at People Blaming Him For UFC 249 appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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