We have a new UFC lightweight champion.
As was expected, Khabib Nurmagomedov maintained his perfect professional record by dominating late stand-in Al Iaquinta in the UFC 223 main event.
Nurmagomedov had several opponent changes in the final week of his fight camp but his goal was clear and he got the job done in somewhat ugly circumstances against Iaquinta, who was preparing to fight Paul Felder just 36 hours ago.
Nurmagomedov had the beating of the only New Yorker on the UFC 223 card in all departments but Iaquinta put on quite the show for the Barclays Centre crowd by staying in the fight throughout the headliner.
Undefeated. Undisputed.
Khabib Nurmagomedov with one of the most dominant displays over five rounds in UFC history 🙌
UFC lightweight champion 🏆#UFC223 pic.twitter.com/Ww1HaJYWAd
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) April 8, 2018
‘Raging Al’ essentially kept the entirety of the third and fourth rounds on the feet after spending the opening pair of frames on his back and he didn’t give Nurmagomedov an easy night’s work by any means.
A unanimous decision of 50-44, 50-43, 50-43 was registered and while most expected Nurmagomedov to get on the microphone and cut a promo aimed at Conor McGregor, the former 155lbs king who is currently more concerned with legal issues than his fighting future, the Dagestan native had a different opponent in mind.
“Like Georges St-Pierre said, even if you’re a black belt then you have to remain a white belt in your mind,” Nurmagomedov said in his post-fight interview.
"Now, I want to fight Georges St-Pierre at Madison Square Garden in November." 😱@TeamKhabib with a huge call out. What a fight this would be! 🙏 #UFC223 pic.twitter.com/KU3BwpEoZC
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) April 8, 2018
“But now I want to fight with Georges St-Pierre in New York, Madison Square Garden in November.
“I want to say thank you to my opponent and his team. Iaquinta is a real Brooklyn gangster. He is not a chicken. He came here!
“Where is Conor? He wants to fight with a bus? I want to fight with a real gangster. Iaquinta, thank you so much.
“It’s so crazy, 26-0, 10-0 in the UFC!”
