Khabib Nurmagomedov on Dustin Poirier: 'He deserves to be the champion'

Khabib Nurmagomedov is picking former UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier as the rightful king of the talent-rich 155-pound division.

The pair of lightweights have previously locked horns at UFC 242 in September 2019 where the Nurmagomedov emerged victorious by way of third-round submission.

Poirier has rebounded since that fateful night and has recently defeated former UFC two-division world champion, Conor McGregor, via second-round technical knockout at UFC 257 last month

“Poirier deserves to be champion, that’s my personal opinion,” Nurmagomedov told Match TV as translated by RT Sports.

“Look at who he’s fought. Jim Miller, Eddie Alvarez, Anthony Pettis, Max Holloway. He’s fought me, Conor – these are all top fighters, maybe fighters who will end up in the UFC Hall of Fame.”

Nurmagomedov retired from mixed martial arts last year following his third successful defense of the UFC lightweight title against Justin Gaethje.

Despite his retirement, the organization is yet to strip the Russian of the gold-plated strap as UFC president Dana White is bent on convincing Nurmagomedov to fight again.

And while White has already failed a few times in making the UFC lightweight champ fight again, Nurmagomedov revealed that the UFC boss is not quite done yet.

“I told [Dana] I don’t want the division to be held up. But on the other hand, fighters have only just been in action and people already understand in general who we’ll see fighting for the title,” shared Nurmagomedov.

“But between who? Dana told me he isn’t done yet. I can say that. When I told him the lightweight division needs to move on, he told me he isn’t done.” -- BAP, GMA News