When Khabib Nurmagomedov first received the phone call on Sunday telling him that his lightweight championship bout against Tony Ferguson at UFC 223 was canceled for the fourth straight time, like many on April Fools' Day, he immediately thought it was a joke. 

Yet if there was one bit of news that somehow surprised Nurmagomedov (25-0) even more, it was that featherweight champion Max Holloway (19-3) was willing to step in as a replacement on just six days' notice to save Saturday's UFC 223 main event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Nurmagomedov spoke at length about the impact of Ferguson's freak knee injury -- suffered during a fall at a TV studio -- during Monday's appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. But the native of Dagestan couldn't quite get over Holloway's boldness.

"For me, I [would] never take this fight. Why am I going to take this fight?" Nurmagomedov said. "I need eight weeks, train hard, last one week make weight and go to the war. Because when I go to the war, I have to know I am ready or no. Because six days? You can't train. You have to cut weight all six days. 

"This isn't about, 'Oh, I'm tough. I'm going to show you guys how I'm tough.' Of course I am tough, but I am smart, too. I'm more smart than tough. People watching my record and say that this guy is tough. This is not about tough, this is about mind. You think when you fight. This is about everything."

Nurmagomedov has seen his rise toward his first title shot stalled by injury and illness in the past. Not only did he miss two full years due to a knee injury between 2014 and 2016, he withdrew from his third attempt at facing Ferguson last March for the interim 155-pound title after being hospitalized for a difficult weight cut.

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Because of that history, Nurmagomedov made sure that he would only agree to face Holloway if it was at 155 pounds for the undisputed title. He also insisted that UFC president Dana White strip both inactive champion Conor McGregor and interim titleholder Ferguson before the fight. 

Still, Nurmagomedov admits, the name Holloway was never one that crossed his mind, especially considering the featherweight champion pulled out of his own March 3 title defense against Brian Ortega with an ankle injury. 

"I don't think about Max Holloway," Nurmagomedov said. "I think about maybe [Dustin] Poirier, [Eddie] Alvarez, maybe [Michael] Chiesa or [Paul] Felder or [Al] Iaquinta or [Anthony] Pettis, because these guys fight with me on same night. But they called me and said Max Holloway.

"I respect him, Aloha Max, but he's champion for a reason at 145. If you watch, he fight [Jose] Aldo twice, he fight Pettis, Jeremy Stephens, Ricardo Lamas -- if you watch all of these guys, nobody wrestles. If you look at his 12-fight win streak, nobody is like me. Nobody wrestled him. But now, he is in different territory, different weight classes, different animals. Everything is different and he has an opponent who is young, hungry, bigger than him and more strong than him. I think it's going to be a long night for him."

The main reason Nurmagomedov said he didn't agree with Holloway's decision to take the fight was because he cares too much about his legacy. 

"I never fight for the money but every person is different," Nurmagomedov said. "Max Holloway, I've heard him in interview say, 'I don't care about the belt, I care about check.' I think UFC tell him we are going to give you good money and you have to come here and he said of course.

"If UFC has a problem, this a UFC problem. That's why my name is Khabib and other name is UFC. I care about my legacy. UFC already has its legacy. UFC is biggest organization right now in the world. Without UFC or no, people are going to remember this. I want people to remember my name like undefeated, undisputed UFC lightweight champion. Why I need to take six days before fight?"

Asked whether he thinks he will one day fight McGregor, Nurmagomedov said he's a believer. He also called it the "most interesting fight in MMA and boxing right now." But he has a different name in mind for whom he hopes to face should he defeat Holloway. 

"I think about Georges St-Pierre because he talk about he can make 155," Nurmagomedov said. "He is already middleweight and welterweight champion. Why not? For his legacy and my legacy, it's very important. If UFC makes this fight, for him it's not an easy fight and for me it's not an easy fight. 

"If I beat Conor or Georges St-Pierre, which one is bigger for my legacy? We don't talk about money, we talk about legacy. I beat Georges or I beat Conor? Well, of course Georges. If UFC give me choice, I'm going to bring Georges. But 100 percent, UFC is going to try to push me versus Conor."