Khabib Nurmagomedov has much to say about Ireland fighters being inferior to Dagestani fighters.
In an interview posted by PFL, Nurmagomedov took a shot against Ireland’s MMA athletes ahead of the country’s rising star, Paul Hughes, challenging Usman Nurmagomediv for Bellator lightweight title on January 25.
“Ireland don’t have fighters, brother,” Khabib said. “Let’s be honest. How many fighters do you know from Ireland? Paul Hughes and Conor [McGregor], and who else? There is no fighters.”
“You can say whatever you want, but if we’re talking about facts, you can’t compare Irish fighters with fighters from Dagestan,” Nurmagomedov wrote. “We dominate amateur MMA, and it’s not even close—not just compared to Irish fighters but the whole world. I’m absolutely confident that if we were to organize a team vs. team matchup, Dagestan would defeat a world team in amateur MMA.
“And when it comes to professional MMA, we have champions, contenders, and ranked fighters in every major league. Show me Irish fighters who are currently title contenders in the top 3 MMA promotions. At best, you might be able to name 1 or 2 fighters.”
Ahead of the lightweight title bout, the PFL has marketed the event as ‘Dagestan vs. Ireland‘. This decision came easy due to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s involvement in the event. The former UFC champion famously competed against Conor McGregor in 2018, scoring a submission win over the Irishman in the biggest fight in the history of MMA. Later this month, Nurmagomedov will again be in his cousin’s corner.
Meanwhile, there’s a good possibility that Conor McGregor will be in Paul Hughes’ corner on fight night. The irishman has been out of the cage for sometime now but he will be making an appearance on the cageside to support his countryman.
Paul Hughes is unperturbed by this back and forth. He is eager to prove Nurmagomedov wrong and has a simple response to the fighter’s rants “Just wait and see”
