At times throughout Friday’s call, the 27-0 titleholder was asked about what makes Poirier a dangerous opponent and if he believes their meeting at UFC 242 stands as the most difficult challenge of his career.
Every time, Nurmagomedov spoke highly of what Poirier brings to the table, the improvements he’s made over his career and the challenge he presents on September 7.
“He has a very good win streak, beat a lot of good guys,” Nurmagomedov said of Poirier, who enters on a four-fight winning streak. “Last fight, he beat a very tough opponent, Max Holloway, and I think he deserves this.
“What makes him a tough opponent? I think he has a lot of experience. I think he has good experience. Even if you lose a couple times in the UFC, he has good experience — 20 or more than 20 fights in the UFC and he’s fought very big fights before, with tough opponents. I think it’s about experience.
“Right now, when I watch Dustin Poirier, I think it’s going to be my toughest challenge, but I always think like this,” he added later in the call. “Even when I fought Darrell Horcher, I thought, ‘This is going to be my toughest challenge.’ I don’t want to make a mistake and I don’t want to underestimate this guy.”
Though his focus is solely on Poirier and their clash on pay-per-view, Nurmagomedov has also clearly given some thought to what comes next, both in terms of challengers in the lightweight division and continuing to build his own legacy, which is something he’s spoken about frequently since winning the lightweight title at UFC 223.
The way he sees it, the only fighter deserving of the next title shot is Tony Ferguson, the former Ultimate Fighter winner and interim champion whom he’s been scheduled to face on numerous occasions, only to have the bouts fall through at various points for myriad different reasons.
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“Only Tony Ferguson, of course. I think he deserves it,” Nurmagomedov said of the streaking contender, who extended his winning streak to an even dozen with a second-round stoppage victory over Donald Cerrone this summer at UFC 238, when asked who is next in line. “Who else? No one else. It’s only Tony Ferguson that deserves it.”
As for his place on the pound-for-pound list, Nurmagomedov acknowledged it’s both something every fighter should think about, but also something he tries to set aside as best he can.
