‘That Would Be a Horrible Fight’- John McCarthy on Claims That Brian Ortega Can Beat Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib Nurmagomedov is inarguably one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. ‘The Eagle’ is a former UFC Lightweight Champion and has an incredible MMA record of 29-0. As Nurmagomedov is undefeated throughout his UFC career, people often speculate what would happen if ‘The Eagle’ faced some of the other outstanding fighters of his era.

Now recently as Brian Ortega had talked about how he could be a bad matchup for Nurmagomedov. During the recent ‘Weighing In’ podcast, Josh Thomson and ‘Big’ John McCarthy discussed the same. McCarthy, who has officiated in plenty of Ortega’s fights, talked about what would happen in this fight. He said, “I love Brian Ortega; I have done a ton of Brian’s fights and Brian pulls off great submissions.”

“He’s got a good stand-up, he’s good everywhere. And he would end up underneath Khabib and he would not be pulling off any of those submissions. Khabib is good at submissions and what he’s really good at is submission defense. He’s not a guy that puts himself in such a position.”

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“He’ll stick his head somewhere and guys would try to guillotine and stuff like that. The only guy that I ever saw come close was Dustin Poirier, and that was a mistake on Khabib and he still didn’t get it, even when he was deep. And so I love Brian. That would be a horrible fight for Brian.”

McCarthy clearly believes that Ortega is a great fighter, however, the fighter is certain that Nurmagomedov would come out on top if they ever competed.

Can a fight between Brian Ortega and Khabib Nurmagomedov ever happen?

Brian Ortega is all set to compete against Alexander Volkanovski at the UFC 266 event for the UFC Featherweight title. Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov has retired after his fight with Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. ‘The Eagle’ now devotes his time to coaching and has often claimed that he will never return to the Octagon.

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Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that a fight between Nurmagomedov and Ortega will ever take place. Who do you think would have won a fight between Brian Ortega and Khabib Nurmagomedov? Let us know in the comments.