In the main event of UFC 242, and possibly one of the most anticipated fights in a long time, Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Dustin Poirier.

He did so in the third round by way of submission; the fighter has been making quite the habit of submission victories and this wasn’t the first he had achieved inside the third round. Just three fights earlier, he disposed of Edson Barboza in a very similar fashion.

Winning the fight, the Russian retained his UFC lightweight world title, having defeated Conor McGregor last October at UFC 229.

Also, the fighter maintains his perfect record-breaking record, with 28 wins from 28 fascinating fights.

Khabib has been known to talk to his opponents during his fights as a way to get under their skin.

He did so with Michael Johnson and Conor McGregor, and it worked. This time, though, it was his opponent doing the talking, and he wasn’t speaking to Khabib himself.

He was actually speaking to his own team mid-fight in a desperate attempt to salvage a quite unsalvageable situation.

Whilst being smothered by Khabib, Poirier said: “I can’t get him the f**k off me, man."

Poirier was taken down in every single round and forced to tap out in the third after Khabib locked him in a rear-naked choke. Besides a brief spell at the beginning of the second round, the undefeated fighter dominated the American.

After the fight, Nurmagomedov took some time to reignite his feud with McGregor, praising Poirier in the process.

"Why do we have so much more respect between us than the last fight?" Nurmagomedov said.

"You know this bullshit guy [McGregor] that I had a lot of crazy stuff, but I want to forget everything.

"We show what this is in MMA that No. 1 is respect. That is what your coach teaches you first that you have to respect the gym, your teammates and to clean the gym.

"MMA is not about trash talking and this is what we show."

Leaving the Octagon, Poirier could be seen crying as his opponent celebrated the victory. The relentless abuse imposed by the lightweight champion proved all too much for yet another fighter.