Conor McGregor does not deserve Khabib Nurmagomedov rematch after UFC 229 demolition, claims Daniel Cormier
DC's teammate defeated McGregor in the main-event of UFC 229 - and the current heavyweight champ believes Nurmagomedov's dominance was too great for The Notorious to warrant a rematch
UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier says Conor McGregor does not deserve a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Cormier’s American Kickboxing Academy teammate defeated McGregor, 30, in the main-event of UFC 229 submitting The Notorious via neck crank in the fourth round.
Nurmagomedov, 30, largely dominated the fight on the way to defending his UFC lightweight title for the first time.
This led Cormier, 39, to claim the competitiveness of the bout was not enough to warrant McGregor a rematch.
DC instead told that the post-fight brawl between the two camps is the only reason the rematch is of interest.
Cormier said: “The rematch is wanted because of what happened after the fight.
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"If that ended and the hugged and you thought competitively about that fight, people wouldn’t say, ‘I want to watch them again.’
"But after all that, the bad blood, people go, ‘I want to watch the fight.’
"From a competitive standpoint, there really is no reason for them to fight again. Because of everything else around it, everyone wants it.
"And trust me, I will be there again to watch it because of everything that surrounds the fight.”
Nurmagomedov took control of the fight early implementing his elite grappling ability, nullifying McGregor’s dangerous striking.
However, Cormier praised his teammate's ability to also stand and strike with McGregor, with Nurmagomedov even dropping the Irishman with a right hook in the second round.
Cormier said: “Sadly, the post-fight stuff was so big that you lost track of the fact that he fought a tremendous fight.
"In the stand-up, where Conor was supposed to have a massive advantage, it was evening.
"Even in the third round, if you had to give Conor a round, that was his. That was still a really close round.
"Khabib landed as he took it. He got a knockdown on him, when does that happen? I mean Conor’s never been knocked down.
"He did so many amazing things in that fight. I thought he fought well and he’s seeing the fruits of his labour. Because he is a massive star right now around the world and it showed from the performance.”
Cormier was quick to praise McGregor, who like DC has reigned as world champion in two weight divisions.
But Cormier suggested the former UFC featherweight and lightweight titleist does not have the ability to overcome his rival Nurmagomedov, if they were to rematch.
Cormier added: “Conor to me is a great fighter, and I thought he fought well. I really did.
"But I just don’t know if he can hurt Khabib enough to stop him from pursuing him. And that’s where the matchup problem exists.
"He’s a good boxer, but Khabib’s not so bad that he just gets overwhelmed. I don’t think he can hurt him enough to stop him from walking him down, pursuing him and taking him down. And eventually, he’s going to get tired.”