There’s been a lot of rumblings that Conor McGregor wants to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov in Russia, instead of the lightweight interim champion Tony Ferguson. Logic says Ferguson gets the next crack at Conor, however, that’s not always how the UFC works.
Conor McGregor’s camp only recently responded to the months of harassing comments from Tony Ferguson, and they just laughed them off and haven’t addressed any potential fight with the interim belt holder.
The same can’t be said for Khabib though, who after winning his co-main event at UFC 219, got a reaction from McGregor, and a subsequent twitter war.
All signs would point to Dana White’s original proclamation that Conor wants to face Khabib in Russia, as holding true.
Dana originally stated last year to mmajunkie, “[Conor] said, ‘I want Khabib in Russia,. Isn’t he f*cking awesome? He’s awesome. Conor McGregor is a f*cking unicorn. There’s nothing like him. He’s working on boxing Floyd Mayweather and then he’s talking about fighting Khabib in Russia right after.”
A fight in Russia isn’t a bad idea for McGregor, but facing Nurmagomedov, who is arguably the biggest threat to his UFC legacy, on his home turf might not be the smartest idea either.
Conor’s head coach recently revealed his theory on why McGregor is so dead set on the matchup, even blaming the Rocky IV film for Conor’s desire to live out a historic matchup in Russia.
During a media tour scrum, SBG leader John Kavanagh stated, “He seems very, very motivated to go to Russia . . . I don’t know if he’s been watching Rocky IV or something like that.”
Still though, Conor McGregor has some pretty steep demands the UFC must meet in order to get him back in the cage, including an unheard of, never before done, co-promotion deal with a contracted fighter.
