Khabib Nurmagomedov: Dustin Poirier mauled Conor McGregor, wins 100 out of 100 times

Khabib Nurmagomedov thinks Dustin Poirier has Conor McGregor’s number.

McGregor suffered his second consecutive loss to Poirier this past Saturday at UFC 264 when he broke his with leg just seconds remaining in Round 1, which forced a stop to the fight.

Though the bout was going Poirier’s way, with two judges awarding him a 10-8 round, a frustrated McGregor thinks he would have gotten the best of “The Diamond” in Round 2. McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) was loose and diverse on the feet early, but once he jumped for a guillotine choke, Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) made him pay on the ground.

But Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC), who holds finishes over both McGregor and Poirier, thinks things would have only gotten worse for McGregor and doesn’t ever see him beating Poirier, even if they fight for a fourth time.

“Judges give (the first round) for Dustin Poirier 10-8, he maul him on this round,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN. “I think if they fight 100 times, Dustin gonna beat him 100 times.”

He continued, “If (McGregor) wanna come back, OK, make him fight one more time with Dustin Poirier and finish this guy. That’s it. I think this is what the UFC is gonna do with him, or maybe he fight vs. Nate (Diaz). But both of them I think he’s gonna lose.”

Nurmagomedov thinks McGregor, who beat Poirier in September 2014, only hurt himself with his pre-fight antics of targeting both Poirier and his wife with his trash talk. The build-up resembled Nurmagomedov’s experience with McGregor before UFC 229, where the Irish superstar used a boisterous, but angry approach to try and get under his opponent’s skin.

“It sounds like same thing Dustin saying, it’s just noise,” Nurmagomedov said. “He’s not him. I think it was fake Conor. That’s my opinion because couple months ago we see how he was nice, now he try to be like – it looks fake. That’s why this trash talk don’t work on Dustin Poirier. My opinion, it was his big mistake. He lose so much energy because he tried to go under his skin. Don’t focus on your opponent. Just focus on yourself.”

McGregor has a long road to recovery ahead of him after breaking his leg. Having sustained such a serious injury, Nurmagomedov doubts McGregor will ever be the same.

“Without broken legs, yes, but with broken legs never because he’s never going to kick the same,” Nurmagomedov said. “With him, no, I don’t believe. Conor have good age, only 32 … but what happened with his mind, legs – this guy is finished, but he’s good for promotion.”