#khamzat-chimaev

#khamzat-chimaev

Makhachev's cryptic response to a photo of Morales and Topuria, featuring a telephone emoji, hints at a potential matchup with one of them next.

"I do hate him," Morales told Alvaro Colemenoro. "We don't have a very good vibe. But at the end of the day, he's still a fighter. I'm not gonna get overconfident if I had to prepare myself to fight him... That fight is gonna be intense if it happens... I think that if I were to fight him, it would be the first time that I would fight in a very aggressive way."

I think if Ilia does this, he will lose everything. But he has the power to fight at lightweight, and I don't think it's going to be a good fight for Gaethje if they fight. Gaethje's fight [against Pimblett] was so good, but he missed a lot of punches. That's not a good idea with Ilia. If [Ilia] touches [Justin], he'll knock him out, but with Islam, it's not going to happen. Islam is so huge and on another level.

Cormier immediately called out both of them for not following any rules. Cormier noted that their famous games of Dagestani basketball is a mixture of rugby and basketball with almost no rules. Cormier would preferably not include them on any team as they would try to modify the rules according to their convenience. However, if bound to choose, Cormier would pick Nurmagomedov, whom he sees as the bigger and rougher one.

"About the decision, about the fight, nobody stay happy. I think the only people who stay happy about the decision is my opponent and his team. The president is making the right choice with that, that's protecting the image of the company and not tainting their legacy and the sport."

If you want to make money, fight. One year ago, Tom was saying things like, 'I'm the active champion. I don't care about Jon Jones. I just care about the belt.' We all supported that because Tom was completely correct. And now one year later Tom is the one that appears to be holding out.

No final news yet, no contract signed. One of the last discussions I had with Hunter Campbell and Mick Maynard in Qatar - They told me that they wanted to schedule the fight against Khamzat for December, then for February. But Khamzat got injured. We spoke recently with Mick Maynard, and they want to see the fight happen, but we don't have final approval.

We kind of dismissed that right away, 'Oh, he's too small for light heavyweight. He's gonna get knocked out right away.' I don't think so,

"I wasn't surprised by Petr's victory," Nurmagomedov told Red Corner MMA. "I knew he is better at striking; he's got good defensive wrestling. Even if Petr had been taken down, Merab doesn't have the grappling skills like Aljamain Sterling has to control Petr on the ground... I think even if you give Merab a three-year break and make him face a healthy version of Petr Yan, Petr will beat him 10 out of 10 times."

"He used to be a humble kid, now he's not," Makhachev told Red Corner MMA. "He himself was shocked by the way they recognized him in the U.S. Journalists were waiting in the lobby to get an interview. He went a bit too far, and Khabib slowed him down. He said, 'Chanco, don't chase the hype; the hype has to chase you.' So we slowed him down on time."

There's no special work for this particular opponent. We're trying to improve in all aspects to become the best in the world. I can't see any threat in Figueiredo. Of course, he's a very experienced and skillful fighter. But it's all about his right hand and the right leg. He has some understanding of grappling. He is capable of taking you down. Overall, he's a decent fighter, but I can't see any big threat in him.

"The GOAT for me is Khabib, and I would put Jon Jones in that category, but I can't," Mendez said on the Ahmed Mahmood show. "If you're caught doing something you shouldn't have been doing, how can you be considered at the top of the league? This is a true sport, and in a true sport you cannot put that person ahead.

While Nurmagomedov has downplayed it, there is no doubt that this fight is slightly more personal for him and his team. Davis won the 2025 World Tournament and did so by besting the defending champion and fellow member of the Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov school: Gadzhi Rabadanov. While Nurmagomedov has downplayed how much extra incentive he feels to avenge his teammate, there's no question the two have a natural friction going into the fight.