UFC news: Conor McGregor taunted by rival manager, Khabib’s plans revealed, Cerrone talks
UFC NEWS - Express Sport brings you the latest headlines coming out of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Conor McGregor mocked by Ali Abdelaziz
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz is adamant Conor McGregor doesn’t deserve a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov and insisted the Irishman must win a fight first before he can be considered for another title shot.
He told ESPN: “To be honest, Conor is going to have to go out there and fight somebody like Justin Gaethje, Tony Ferguson or ‘Cowboy’[Donald Cerrone].
“He’s not a worthy enough opponent right now. That’s the feeling from all of us, as a team.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s plans revealed
Abdelaziz has revealed Nurmagomedov is hoping to fight three times in the next year, with one of those bouts coming against the recently-retired Georges St-Pierre.
“He gave me very specific instructions,” the Egyptian recently told ESPN. “He said he wants to fight Sept 7 and again in December.
“And if Georges St-Pierre can figure things out with the UFC by April, that’s the deal. He would like that fight in April.”
He said he wants to fight Sept 7 and again in December
Donald Cerrone reflects on Al Iaquinta victory
Donald Cerrone has admitted had he faced Al Iaquinta a few years ago he probably would’ve quit midway through their bout.
“I was telling my corners, I felt terrible starting that fight,” Cerrone said in a post-fight media scrum. “I couldn’t find it, back in the locker room I didn’t want to warm up. I didn’t want to get ready, I didn’t want to hit pads, I didn’t want to wrestle.
“I didn’t want to fight until the second round. People always say I’m a slow starter and, ‘What Cowboy are you going to get?’
"And we train hard, we train so hard and we try and find for our opponents to beat us so that we can show up and beat them on our worst day. And today was my worst day.
“Thank God it’s been 41 fights in Zuffa that I’ve been here because I was able to, like, fake it ‘till you make it, ‘cause you fake it long enough and you find it.
“In the second round it was like, there it is and let’s go to work. It’s just tough, because I think the younger me would have quit.
"It’s just crazy, there’s like memes out there of lions with little cubs saying, ‘I would have quit until I realized who was watching’ and it was like, yeah, motherf****r, let’s go.”