Khabib Nurmagomedov Mauls Edson Barboza At UFC 219 And Dismisses Conor McGregor

It’s been over a year since the last time Dagestan’s Khabib Nurmagomedov made it into the UFC cage to fight, which is a damn shame considering how impressive he’s looked in his last couple of bouts. But Khabib is just one of those fighters that can’t seem to stay healthy. Injuries kept him out of the Octagon from 2014 to 2016, and then a botched weight cut in March at UFC 209 killed his shot at the UFC interim lightweight belt and killed chances of a fight with Conor McGregor.

Khabib spent the next several months under doctor’s supervision due to the damage the cut did to his body, which certainly killed the momentum he had following his higlight reel beatdown of Michael Johnson in his last fight. But that didn’t stop him from dominating Edson Barboza during their UFC 219 fight from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, winning via decision with 30-25, 30-25, and 30-24 scorecards. That just tells you how one-sided of a beating he unleashed that all three judges threw out multiple 10-8 rounds.

The first round saw Edson Barboza unleashing a high volume of kicks, switching high and low to try and keep Nurmagomedov on his toes. Khabib was stuck chasing Edson for the first few minutes, eating a lot of foot on the way in. But in the end, it was worth it as Nurmagomedov got his hands on Barboza and dragged him to the ground. From there the ground and pound started, and at this point, Khabib reminded everyone that he’s got some of the nastiest strikes on the ground in the sport.

Round two was more of the same with Barboza moving in reverse and firing off kicks until Nurmagomedov pushed through them and landed a takedown. From there Khabib tenderized Edson at will, working him over with body shots and short hard punches to the face. A heavily bruised Barbosa staggered out for the start of round three and ended up in Khabib’s grip a minute into the round. The scrappy Brazilian continued to show heart, throwing spinning kicks with wild abandon only to have them blocked and shrugged off by Nurmagomedov.

Round 3 ended with a solid minute of Khabib cracking a downed Barboza in the face before they returned to their feet for the final 30 seconds. Again, no quit in Barboza, who threw a dangerous looking jumping knee that just didn’t connect. But there was no doubt who won that fight, only whether Khabib won by multiple 10-8 rounds on the scorecard or not. It turns out he did: two judges gave two rounds 10-8 scores and one gave all three 10-8 scores. That’s dominance on a level you don’t see often, folks.

Afterwards, Nurmagomedov was asked about interim champ Tony Ferguson and lightweight champ Conor McGregor.

“If UFC give me one hour rest, I can fight one more time, Conor or Tony, no problem,” he said. But he didn’t seem bothered by the slim chance McGregor would fight him. “I don’t think about these two bulls**t guys, I think about only me. Next fight is next fight, if UFC asks me what I want, I want Tony Ferguson, he’s still fighting. Conor has lot of money now so now he has to spend it. When the money is gone, then he’ll fight.”

With the contenders at lightweight looking as fierce as Khabib, McGregor won’t have an easy time upon his return to the Octagon.