Dana White reveals Khabib Nurmagomedov told him ‘I’m so many levels ABOVE these guys’ after Conor McGregor was sensationally KNOCKED OUT in the second round by Dustin Poirier in huge UFC shock
UFC boss Dana White revealed after Conor McGregor‘s shock defeat to Dustin Poirier that Khabib Nurmagomedov has told him: ‘Be honest with yourself, I’m so many levels above these guys.’
Poirier pulled off the greatest victory of his career by gaining revenge to losing to the Irishman seven years ago by pulling off a brilliant second-round knockout-victory at UFC 257.
In the second round, Poirier took the centre of the ring and unleashed a flurry of strikes that the Notorious simply had no answer for, with the referee Herb Dean step into wave off the contest and hand the Diamond a monumental victory to shake up the lightweight division.
Dana White has revealed Khabib told him he is ‘so many levels above these guys’ post-fight
Dustin Poirier has knocked out Conor McGregor to send a shock through the lightweight ranks
The Diamond vowed to upset the odds in his highly-anticipated rematch with the Irishman
Yet Khabib, who has beaten both McGregor and Poirier, did not sound overly optimistic about the prospect of returning to the octagon after the main event, according to White.
‘I did talk to Khabib [after the fight],’ White revealed, at his post-fight press conference.
He said to me “Dana be honest with yourself, I’m so many levels above these guys, I’d beat these guys.”
‘It doesn’t sound very positive so we’ll see. I’ve told you guys before he won’t hold the division up. He’s basically retired…’
Having survived McGregor’s typical fast start, Poirier got in his groove and found his range
White also revealed that Khabib told him what the American needed to do to beat McGregor – and his foresight was near-enough spot-on.
‘Khabib said to me in the first round that [Poirier] needs to come out in that first round and try to grapple,’ White said.
‘Tire him out, make him use his arms and legs. Get through a round and a half. And he thought the fight would go the other way if he could get Conor out of the first round-and-a-half.’