Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
Following his big UFC 246 win, McGregor made it clear that he wasn’t willing to compromise his ‘season’ for a shot at his nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Sorry, Dana. Once again, Conor McGregor has a different idea of what should be next in his fighting career.
The UFC president made it clear that McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov was the obvious fight to make. The only problem with that? Khabib fights Tony Ferguson in April, and then is unavailable to fight again until autumn due to Ramadan. That’s a whole lot of sitting around for someone who has made consistency and fighting frequency a cornerstone of his comeback ‘season.’ So it’s not really that much of a surprise that McGregor shot down White’s matchmaking.
”No, no. The fight will happen,” McGregor said in a media scrum after his UFC 246 win over Donald Cerrone. “The fight will happen. The opponent doesn’t matter. That rematch will happen, it’s inevitable … It’s not the be all, end all. I will just continue doing what i’m doing and focus on myself and my skills and my training and carry on.”
“I don’t think the ‘who’ matters,” he said earlier at the UFC 246 post-fight press conference. “I think okay, the lightweight title will be there. That will be there. You see the difference in the physique, the preparation and all that. That will come back around, that shot. So I’m certainly not — if the [Khabib vs. Tony] fight does go ahead — sitting out and waiting and then wait through holidays and injuries and everything that goes with it. The who doesn’t matter to me now. I’m looking at dates now. I know March was there. I’m gonna have a look at a calendar and see where we’re at.”
He made it clear how little he cared about Khabib during the scrum.
”Like I said, the who does not matter,” he said. “Fuck Khabib. The who does not matter. The opponents that I line up are likely all inevitable. Sometimes it takes a while to come back around. Look at the Donald situation. Me and Donald have been going back and forth since 2015. We’re involved in this business and we’ll be here a long time. It’s forever, so there’s no rush on anything. And the who does not matter. It’s just keeping myself in shape, focused, and take it as it comes.”
As for a preferred weightclass?
”I like this weight, I have to say,” Conor said. “Donald’s a big man in there. Donald said he only cut a pound, that’s a lie, that’s not accurate. HE was in the sauna since Wednesday. We saw him in the sauna since Wednesday. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was above 185, about 185 in there. I was 170, if even. I had a breakfast that morning. But like I said, I felt energetic, I felt fresh, I felt the want to be in there. I like 170. I also like 155 and could have made 155 this camp no problem.”
”I’m open. Like I said, the who does not matter. The weight does not matter. It’s just consistency and carry on.”