Khabib Nurmagomedov needs nothing however the most effective for Arman Tsarukyan.
Hours away from his first shot at UFC gold, Tsarukyan was pressured to bow out of Saturday’s headliner towards Islam Makhachev in Los Angeles on account of an injured again. The information got here as a shock to fighters and followers alike, however fortuitously, the UFC was in a position to pluck one other top-10 fighter from the cardboard and insert them into the principle occasion with relative ease.
That man being none aside from rising light-weight star Renato Moicano.
Whereas backstage at Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins in Inglewood, Makhachev’s coach and mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, supplied his tackle the sudden shake-up and shared some phrases of encouragement to Tsarukyan, recalling an identical incident he himself endured throughout his personal race to the light-weight title.
“Truthfully, I knew this yesterday, at 1 A.M. earlier than I sleep. Truthfully, this could occur with anyone. In case you guys keep in mind [in] 2017, March, it occurred with me too. Then after that, I’m going to hospital, make surgical procedure, come again and I inform UFC, ‘It was my mistake, give me different finest man. I’m going to beat this man and deserve my title shot.’ It was the identical factor with me. I simply need to want him all the most effective. He’s younger. He’s robust. He can come again. He [has] to outlive this case and are available again,” (h/t Sportskeeda).
Khabib Refuses to underestimate ‘cash’ moicano
Unsurprisingly, Makhachev is an enormous -1100 favourite to come back out on prime towards Moicano contained in the Intuit Dome. Regardless of these huge odds, ‘The Eagle’ is aware of that counting out somebody as harmful and skilled as ‘Cash’ can be an enormous mistake.
“Now, new major occasion. I believe with Moicano, he has very large expertise within the UFC… 10, 11 years in UFC. He [has four-fight] win streak, and he’s on his prime. It’s an excellent struggle. In fact, it’s not like Arman and Islam, however it’s nonetheless very aggressive struggle, and we [are] not going to underestimate this man.”
Moicano goes into his first UFC title alternative using a four-fight win streak and a winner in six of his final seven, together with Ws towards notable names like Drew Dober, Jalin Turner, and Benoit Saint-Denis.
