Khabib Nurmagomedov points to divine intervention when breaking down Conor McGregor’s leg break at UFC 264.
McGregor’s (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas ended in gruesome fashion when the former two-division champion could not continue after suffering the injury in the closing seconds of Round 1. Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) was declared the winner by TKO, and afterward, Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) tweeted that “good” had prevailed over “evil.”
There’s no doubt Nurmagomedov’s negative history with McGregor led to his initial reaction, but he said he stands behind it. He saw the way in which McGregor acted before the fight with Poirier – as well as after the fight – and he pointed to the will of God not allowing the Irishman to thrive in that moment.
“(There’s) always (going to) be there something superior – more powerful – than we have,” Nurmagomedov told MMA Junkie on Monday. “Sometimes when people become, ‘I’m this, I can do this. I’m smart because I’m strong.’ God always going to make you humble. I saw yesterday or two days ago, I saw his coach’s interview like, ‘I don’t understand how this happened. He’s a strong young, strong man and he broke his foot, I don’t understand.’ Everything from God. You have to become humble. When you become rich, when you become strong, when you become famous and then you think this is because of myself? God going to make you humble.”
Nurmagomedov clearly doesn’t feel bad that McGregor suffered an injury that required a three-hour surgery with a rod, plate, and screws being inserted into his leg. Oppositely, he’s thrilled with the outcome, because it saw Poirier shine inside the octagon.
The victory for Poirier set him up for a lightweight title showdown with Charles Oliveira, and Nurmagomedov said he hopes to see “The Diamond” capture gold.
“I really enjoy this fight,” Nurmagomedov said. “I’m really happy with Dustin Poirier. I think he deserve title shot, and I think he deserve to be UFC lightweight champion right now.”
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