The second best lightweight in the official Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) rankings, Khabib Nurmagomedov, paid close attention to the UFC 216 main event between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee, with the expectation of fighting the winner if Conor McGregor fails to defend his title.

Anything is possible.

Lee was submitted by Ferguson in the third round of their pay-per-view (PPV) headliner earlier this month (replay), but don’t believe that crap about Staph infection or sloppy weight cuts contributing to the loss.

“Motown Phenom” was tapped because he fought like a chicken, according to comments Nurmagomedov made on The MMA Hour.

“I think [Ferguson] won because Kevin Lee was fighting with him like chicken. That’s why he won. [Lee] talked too much. He was not focused on the fight; he was focused on, I think, promoting the fight. When the fight was beginning, first round, [Lee] beat [Ferguson], and second round, [Lee] stayed with him in his distance, he ate a lot of jabs, and third round, he gave up, because he doesn’t have conditioning. That’s why.”

I’m sure he wasn’t talking about that chicken from Family Guy, because that would be a compliment.

Nurmagomedov (24-0) hasn’t competed in roughly one year and was supposed to face Ferguson back at UFC 209; however, “The Eagle” was felled by a difficult weight cut and forced to withdraw, leaving “El Cucuy” without a date to the big dance.

If and when they get rebooked — yet again — all depends on this.