Khabib Nurmagomedov captured the UFC Lightweight Title when he scored a unanimous decision victory over Al Iaquinta in the main event of UFC 223.
The reason Nurmagomedov was able to compete and win the gold is because then champion Conor McGregor was stripped of the belt a short time before UFC 223.
Nick Diaz has never fought Nurmagomedov or McGregor, but predicts that the lightweight champion would defeat the Irishman if they ever meet in the Octagon.
“That’s going to be a tough fight for both people,” Diaz said to ESNews. “There is a lot of pressure for one guy, and then... Khabib’s supposed to win. Because a guy like Conor, it takes a long time to develop a formula to deal with someone like Georges St-Pierre or Khabib. There’s a certain formula you have to use. You can’t just lay on your back. You have to turn over and you have to know how to deal with stuff.”
While Nick has never fought McGregor or Nurmagomedov, it was his younger brother Nate that had a two fight series with the former champion. Nate picked up a submission win over McGregor at UFC 196, while suffering a decision loss to him in their rematch at UFC 202.
McGregor and Nurmagomedov have been rumored to be fighting each other for a while now, but nothing has come together yet for the lightweight dream fight.
