Khabib Nurmagomedov is pushing for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to remind lightweight title holder Conor McGregor of their position of power.
McGregor has been adamant about wanting to box Floyd Mayweather. He’s gone as far as to say, “F*ck the UFC.” Nurmagomedov said the UFC needs to get a hold of things.
During a Q&A session (via MMAJunkie.com), “The Eagle” voiced his displeasure over the way McGregor has badmouthed the promotion that “made him:”
“I think the UFC has to plan a little bit, because this chicken is not loyal. The UFC made him, right? If he never fought in the UFC, how did he become like this? Now, he has a name, and now he talks about how he can fight without the UFC in boxing. For me, this is disrespectful to the UFC, disrespectful of their support before, and now, I think the UFC has to make a plan.”
One of the ways the sambo specialist feels the UFC can keep “Notorious” in check is if they promoted his interim lightweight title fight with Tony Ferguson. “The Eagle” and “El Cucuy” are set to meet for the interim gold on March 4 at UFC 209 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Nurmagomedov said the higher ups at the world leader in mixed martial arts (MMA) have the ability to promote his upcoming fight in more effective ways.
“They have to use their PR machine, and they have to make my name big, because the UFC didn’t talk about this (Q&A), they put it on Twitter, but they didn’t promote this on Instagram. The UFC promotes all the time, because the UFC has a very big PR machine. And now, the UFC has to make a plan. They have to promote me, like me vs. him when I beat Tony Ferguson, God willing. I’m going to smash this guy. This is how I see this situation. We have to make him humble.”