UFC 2018 Rumors: Khabib Nurmagomedov's Next Opponent May Now Be Known
Khabib Nurmagomedov is the current king of the UFC's lightweight division, and fight fans are eager to see who the dominant wrestler's first title defense will be against.
With the lightweight division arguably being the UFC's deepest division at the moment, it initially seemed like the match-makers could go in all sorts of directions in terms of who they would select as Nurmagomedov's first challenger.
Something that happened this past weekend may have helped clear things up in the division, however.
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For those who may have missed it, lightweight contenders Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje recently squared off in a thrilling contest that headlined "UFC on FOX 29." The matchup was a back and forth affair, with both men taking plenty of damage, but it was Poirier who managed to stun his opponent with a solid strike in the fourth round, and he eventually finished the fight by piling on the punches.
The win brought Poirier's record over his last 10 fights to seven wins, two losses and one no contest. More importantly for Poirier, he notched the win against one of the toughest guys in the division, and he did so in such spectacular fashion that the UFC's higher-ups simply could not ignore what he just accomplished.
UFC president Dana White praised Poirier for his resilience during a post-event interview, and upon being asked if he sees the 29-year-old as a possible top contender for Nurmagomedov's title, White said that he "absolutely" views him as such.
There are other reasons to believe that Poirier could be Nurmagomedov's next challenger beyond just White seeing him as someone worthy of receiving a title shot.
Poirier recently spoke to Ariel Helwani during a recent edition of "The MMA Hour." During that interview, Poirier revealed that Nurmagomedov's manager reached out to him and said that he is the next guy in line for a match with the champ.
On top of that, it's also just easy to imagine the UFC booking a match between Nurmagomedov and Poirier for pure entertainment value.
Poirier is rarely involved in fights that can be deemed as lackluster and he's the kind of well-rounded fighter that can pose a difficult challenge to Nurmagomedov.
It makes sense, too, that Nurmagomedov wants to fight Poirier as he may want to get back inside the Octagon as soon as he can, given that he's only fought four times dating back to April 2016.
A fight with a higher profile mixed martial artist like a Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz or perhaps even Georges St-Pierre could be more lucrative for Nurmagomedov, but there's also no guarantee that any of those matches will be made. With the UFC interested in matching Nurmagomedov up with Poirier and both fighters also seemingly onboard with that plan, it may be easier to set that fight up now and worry about scheduling bigger bouts later on.
Things are obviously not settled yet at this point, but it's starting to look more and more like Nurmagomedov and Poirier will be squaring off for the UFC Lightweight Championship sooner rather than later.
