{"id":266223,"date":"2017-12-20T11:14:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T19:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=266223"},"modified":"2017-12-20T11:14:08","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T19:14:08","slug":"khabib-nurmagomedov-dives-in-on-who-the-real-ufc-lightweight-champion-should-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/khabib-nurmagomedov\/khabib-nurmagomedov-dives-in-on-who-the-real-ufc-lightweight-champion-should-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Khabib Nurmagomedov dives in on who the ‘real’ UFC lightweight champion should be"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 12, 2016, was the last time we saw Conor McGregor<\/a> fight in the Octagon. McGregor became the UFC lightweight champion that night, capturing the belt from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 and also became the first fighter in history to hold two UFC weight division’s titles simultaneously<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over a year has passed since and McGregor has only competed once and it was outside of the Octagon in a highly lucrative boxing<\/a> match against Floyd Mayweather, which was the second highest pay-per-view event<\/a> of all time.<\/p>\n

Current number 2 UFC ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov spoke with fans<\/a> recently on social media and opened up on how he sees the UFC lightweight title picture with McGregor being out for so long and Tony Ferguson holding the interim title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t have injuries, and he doesn\u2019t defend his belt for more than a year, then it\u2019s very bad,\u201d Nurmagomedov said (translated by Denis Geyko for RT Sport<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Conor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you are the champion and you don\u2019t have an injury, you have to defend it. I really liked how Georges St-Pierre<\/a> acted in a similar situation. Once he understood, that he won\u2019t be able to fight, he didn\u2019t hold his division<\/a> (in wait). And that\u2019s the decision of a real champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cConor doesn\u2019t defend his belt. I don\u2019t even know when he is going to do that. He has the name, it\u2019s profitable for the UFC that he is the champion. They make money because of him and they won\u2019t strip him off the belt. But in my opinion Conor had to be stripped off his belt a long time ago. And Tony Ferguson should be the real champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/a><\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on the UFC lightweight championship picture? Chime in on what Khabib Nurmagomedov had to say in the comment section.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com<\/a> on 12\/20\/2017.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 12, 2016, was the last time we saw Conor McGregor fight in the Octagon. McGregor became the UFC lightweight champion that night, capturing the belt from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 and also became the first fighter in history to hold two UFC weight division’s titles simultaneously. Over a year has passed since and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54422,"featured_media":211776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10089,10114,10113],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKhabib Nurmagomedov dives in on who the 'real' UFC lightweight champion should be | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"November 12, 2016, was the last time we saw Conor McGregor fight in the Octagon. 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