In the end, UFC 223 was more about a destination for Khabib Nurmagomedov than it was about his actual fight against last-second replacement Al Iaquinta.
Nurmagomedov routed Iaquinta to win a lopsided decision and, most importantly, capture the undisputed UFC lightweight title on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Nurmagomedov’s victory meant that Conor McGregor was finally stripped of the 155-pound title that went undefended since the Irishman seized it in November 2016. And while Nurmagomedov took advantage of his moment at UFC 223 to try to set up a fight against Georges St-Pierre, the notion of a blockbuster meeting with McGregor continues to loom over the division, especially after the antics that led “The Notorious” to be arrested midway through fight week for his attack on the UFC fighter bus that carried Nurmagomedov.