Khabib Nurmagomedov Shares Candid Thoughts on Arman Tsarukyan's UFC 311 Withdrawal
Today at 09:24 PM
Khabib Nurmagomedov wishes nothing but the best for Arman Tsarukyan.
Hours away from his first shot at UFC gold, Tsarukyan was forced to bow out of Saturday’s headliner against Islam Makhachev in Los Angeles due to an injured back. The news came as a shock to fighters and fans alike, but fortunately, the UFC was able to pluck another top-10 fighter from the card and insert them into the main event with relative ease.
That man being none other than rising lightweight star Renato Moicano.
While backstage at Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins in Inglewood, Makhachev’s coach and mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, offered his take on the sudden shake-up and shared some words of encouragement to Tsarukyan, recalling a similar incident he himself endured during his own race to the lightweight title.
"Honestly, I knew this yesterday, at 1 A.M. before I sleep. Honestly, this can happen with anybody. If you guys remember [in] 2017, March, it happened with me too. Then after that, I go to hospital, make surgery, come back and I tell UFC, 'It was my mistake, give me other best guy. I'm going to beat this guy and deserve my title shot.' It was the same thing with me. I just want to wish him all the best. He's young. He's tough. He can come back. He [has] to survive this situation and come back,” (h/t Sportskeeda).
Khabib Refuses to underestimate ‘money’ moicano
Unsurprisingly, Makhachev is a massive -1100 favorite to come out on top against Moicano inside the Intuit Dome. Despite those wide odds, ‘The Eagle’ knows that counting out someone as dangerous and experienced as ‘Money’ would be a massive mistake.
“Now, new main event. I think with Moicano, he has very big experience in the UFC… 10, 11 years in UFC. He [has four-fight] win streak, and he's on his prime. It's a good fight. Of course, it's not like Arman and Islam, but it's still very competitive fight, and we [are] not going to underestimate this guy."
Moicano goes into his first UFC title opportunity riding a four-fight win streak and a winner in six of his last seven, including Ws against notable names like Drew Dober, Jalin Turner, and Benoit Saint-Denis.
