A year-and-a-half after Conor McGregor won the UFC lightweight title by defeating Eddie Alvarez, the promotion has a new 155lb champion without the Irishman having defended the belt.
Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 on Saturday night to claim the title and succeed the stripped McGregor as champion.
Nurmagomedov - now 26-0 in his MMA career - won the fight by unanimous decision. The 30-year-old Iaquinta - Nurmagomedov's third scheduled opponent for the fight - was not eligible win the belt as he weighed in at 152.2lb, just 0.2lb over the required mark.
Nurmagomedov was originally slated to fight Tony Ferguson for the belt but for the fourth time, a fight between the two had to be cancelled. In stepped featherweight champion Max Holloway but he too had to withdraw on Friday.
The new champion said after the fight that he wants to next take on Georges St. Pierre at Madison Square Garden. Nurmagomedov also had a few words to say regarding Conor McGregor's antics in New York.
"I want to say thank you to Iaquinta and his team. Iaquinta is a real Brooklyn gangster," Nurmagomedov told Joe Rogan in the octagon after the fight.
"This is not about chicken. Iaquinta is a real Brooklyn gangster. Iaquinta came here.
"Where is Conor? He wants to fight with a bus, I want to fight with a real gangster."
