According to Dana White, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is not only preparing for the biggest fight of his life against Floyd Mayweather Jr in the boxing ring, but is also targeting arguably his toughest challenge in the Octagon to date afterwards.
“You know what Conor told me?” asked MMAjunkie yesterday. “He said, ‘I want Khabib in Russia,
“Isn’t he (expletive) awesome? He’s like, ‘I want Khabib, in Russia.’ He’s awesome. Conor McGregor is a (expletive) 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.”
If true, that would mark the UFC’s first ever event in Russia, and his opponent could not be more formidable, with the 28-year-old Nurmagomedov holding a perfect 24-0 record.
So far, nobody has been able to withstand the Russian fighter’s relentless grappling, which has seen him ragdoll a selection of top lightweight talents in the Octagon over his past eight fights, including victories over the likes of Rafael dos Anjos, Michael Johnson, Pat Healy, Abel Trujillo and Gleison Tibau.
Nurmagomedov still has one fight to go before this dream match-up would take place though, as White has indicated the UFC still intends to put on a twice-cancelled No.1 contender fight between ‘The Eagle’ and Tony Ferguson, who is also on an impressively long winning streak in the division.
However, McGregor believes that Nurmagomedov will emerge victorious in that fight, and if so that’s the fight he wants next, regardless of the outcome of his money-spinning mega-fight with Mayweather on August 26th.
