Khabib Nurmagomedov answered a lot of questions regarding his decision to pull out of UFC 249

UFC Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov provided several answers regarding why he pulled out of UFC 249.

The Russian is stuck in his homeland after leaving the US to continue his preparations. He was supposed to face Tony Ferguson on 18 April, but pulled out a couple of days back.

Khabib claimed that fighting in the current coronavirus situation wasn’t right, and added that the safety of people was important too.

He was asked by Will Harris regarding the decision to move away, while Khabib spoke about not having a location for UFC 249.

Dana White said he was 99% sure of the location for the fight, but Khabib revealed that he still is to get a location:

“We talk about we’re gonna fight in Europe or Emirates or Asia like whatever. But nobody knows location, everybody wants I fight somewhere. UFC doesn’t show us a location, where are we going to fight?”

“This is what I am talking about.”

Not my problem

Khabib was vehement that the UFC had let them down by not sharing a location for the fight. Several venues outside the US had been linked with hosting the event, and the champion was not impressed:

“UFC try to find location for almost one month. They don’t find, what about me?

“This is my mistake?”

Khabib revealed that he was open to a fight sometime in the future against Ferguson. He also was upset with some fans who were blaming him for pulling out, but put the issue on the coronavirus pandemic:

“My name is Khabib but I am not coronavirus.

“Tony Ferguson is Tony Ferguson. My name is Khabib but you know, No.1 thing that makes me crazy?

“People say like ‘I pull out’ or ‘I do something’, I don’t understand this.”

White, for his part, hasn’t claimed that the fight is off yet, but it seems unlikely that Khabib can leave Russia.

There are flight restrictions in the country and Khabib added that it was important for the virus to be controlled before talk about UFC fights resumes.

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• Chael Sonnen explains why Conor McGregor should not fight on UFC 249 card

• What happened to Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s forehead at UFC 248 against Zhang Weili?

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