UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov stirred up some controversy with his title earning victory over Al Iaquinta. Now former title holder Eddie Alvarez has come forward with his thoughts on the matter.
UFC superstar Conor McGregor earned the lightweight title with a finish over Alvarez back in 2016. With the fighter having never defended the title, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) elected to strip “Notorious” of the belt at UFC 223.
Consequently, interim champion Tony Ferguson and undefeated division contender Khabib Nurmagomedov were set to battle it out for the undisputed title in the main event of UFC 223. However, “El Cucuy” injured himself just six days out from the fight.
After replacement opponent Max Holloway was deemed unfit to finish his weight cut, Al Iaquinta stepped up on just one days notice to face the Dagestani native in the night’s headliner.
Iaquinta was not ranked within the top ten of the official UFC lightweight rankings when he faced off against Nurmagomedov. Still the UFC elected to strip both Conor McGregor and interim champion Tony Ferguson of their titles so UFC 223’s headliner could be for the undisputed belt.
Nurmagomedov would go on to earn a dominant unanimous decision victory over his opponent for the belt. Still, the title earning victory has drawn the ire of some of the division’s competitors.
Speaking on the latest edition of The MMA Hour, former champion Eddie Alvarez offered his thoughts on the matter.
“You know what no one’s talking about? Khabib talked about fake champions, fake belts., fake this, fake that, and everything is fake, fake, fake. No one said that they were just begging to give him that belt because they had Russia behind him. Russia is going to be an open market soon, and it’s convenient Khabib has the belt.”
“Now the guy who says ‘fake champion, fake belt, fake this,’ he has title now. They should have just handed it to him, the be honest with you. That’s what it looks like.”
