Khabib claims UFC lightweight title with 5-round schooling of Iaquinta

Finally, it's Khabib Time.

In a fight that saw him sling leather and ride his vaunted grappling in equal measure, the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed a unanimous verdict - and with it a UFC lightweight crown - over late-notice replacement Al Iaquinta to close out a chaotic week in combat sports Saturday at UFC 223 in Brooklyn.

After a surreal series of events that began with original opponent Tony Ferguson's torn LCL, and took the sharpest of left turns with Conor McGregor's well-documented bus attack, Nurmagomedov - who saw subsequent matchups with Max Holloway, Anthony Pettis, and Paul Felder fall through - put in a dominant effort against a game Iaquinta to become the first man to bring a UFC crown to Russia.

As if that wasn't enough, the 29-year-old capped the showing with a call to face former two-division champion Georges St-Pierre at Madison Square Garden in November.

As predicted, Nurmagomedov promptly deprived Iaquinta of his puncher's chance and put him in survival mode, scoring a single-leg takedown and making the Long Islander wear his weight for much of the first round.

The Dagestani treated Iaquinta to much of the same in the second stanza, and appeared to have the late fill-in dead to rights from back mount, but a resilient Iaquinta managed to thwart Nurmagomedov's efforts to secure a rear-naked choke and see a third round.

Then it got weird.

In a move that had viewers, commentators, and his peers alike shaking their heads in befuddlement, Nurmagomedov chose to stand and trade leather with Iaquinta for the latter half of the contest. Luckily, despite leaving his chin ripe for obliteration, he handily outlanded his foe and soon had Iaquinta leaking crimson thanks to an active jab.

With Iaquinta finding a home for his patented right hand to open the fifth, Nurmagomedov got back to his wrestling roots, wisely bringing the action back to the mat and chewing what remained of the clock while blanketing the local favorite to claim the lopsided verdict.

Iaquinta had been initially slated to face Felder on the bill, and would have been considered lightweight champion by UFC president Dana White had he pulled off a miracle Saturday, despite tipping the scales an eighth of a pound over the divisional limit at Friday's weigh-ins. Still, the 30-year-old raised his stock by going the distance with a veritable mauler in Nurmagomedov on a day's notice, even if it cost him his five-fight win streak.