Sitting on the dais inside the Music Hall of Williamsburg just a handful of days after learning that he would be facing Max Holloway instead of Tony Ferguson on Saturday night at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, unbeaten lightweight standout Khabib Nurmagomedov had plenty of material ready for the Hawaiian featherweight champion.
“First of all, I want to say thank you for Max, for taking this fight,” said Nurmagomedov, who enters the contest with a perfect 25-0 record that includes nine consecutive victories inside the Octagon. “If you guys remember, in January at the press conference, he talked about, ‘Hey, if somebody falls out, I’m going to take this fight.