Luke Rockhold: Conor McGregor Shouldn't Get Khabib Rematch; Fight 'Wasn't Close'

Conor McGregor wants another crack at Khabib Nurmagomedov after his submission loss at UFC 229, but former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold doesn't think it's warranted.

In an interview with TMZ Sports on Tuesday, Rockhold noted Nurmagomedov turned in a dominant performance against McGregor (warning: video contains NSFW language):

"The funny thing, a rematch is usually, they're close fights," Rockhold said. "It wasn't really a close fight."

Although Rockhold doesn't necessarily want to see the fight again given the one-sided nature of UFC 229's main event, he acknowledged a rematch could make sense if the fans demand it: "If people wanna see it, if the UFC wants to pay for it, I know Khabib will enjoy a record-breaking number, like I said before. It's gotta be record-breaking numbers if he wants a rematch."

Per ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto, McGregor wrote after the fight on social media that he was "looking forward to the rematch," and UFC President Dana White later confirmed McGregor asked him for another crack at Nurmagomedov.

While McGregor pushed the bout into the fourth round, he was likely significantly behind on the scorecards at the time of his submission.

The fight marked McGregor's first in the UFC since November 2016, and he has dropped two of his past four outings.

Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov is the undefeated UFC lightweight champion at 27-0, and he appears to be operating at a different level than McGregor and perhaps anyone else in the UFC.