At the moment, there is no telling how much longer current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Conor McGregor will be sidelined for their involvement in the now-infamous UFC 229 post-fight brawl.
Relive the madness here.
Nevertheless, UFC president Dana White says the rematch between the two should happen in 2019, as long as everything goes as planned. At least that’s what he told TMZ Sports in a recent interview.
“Again, we still haven’t gone before the Nevada State Athletic Commission, that’s got to happen. And when that does we can figure out how this whole thing plays out. Is Max (Holloway) moving to 55? You have Tony Ferguson is obviously in the mix. So we have to see how this things plays out.” he said.
Still, White says the fight should absolutely happen, but there are several other factors that come into play.
“Yeah, I do. Obviously guys are going to have to win and it depends on how long the suspensions are and things like that. But yeah, as long s everything goes right, this thing should happen.”
Expecting things to go right in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) is a tall order these days.
Khabib choked McGregor out during their first encounter a few months ago at UFC 229 (see it), scoring a big win in his ever-growing rivalry with Team “Notorious.” Despite the setback, Conor is adamant he will return to form in 2019 and plans to make a run at the strap. Whether or not he has his whole team intact, is another story.
But with the first fight being so one-sided, don’t expect McGregor’s first fight back to be against “The Eagle.”