Khabib Nurmagomedov says he might not grant Conor McGregor an immediate title bout if he wins at UFC 223.
Dana White hasn’t exactly been clear on how the UFC lightweight championship belt stands.
Conor McGregor hasn’t defended his title in over a year, and the UFC has booked interim champion Tony Ferguson to face Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223. White says Ferguson vs Khabib will be for the “undisputed” title, but at the same time, McGregor is still the champion.
While those statements caused a bit of confusion during the press conference, Khabib says to him it’s pretty clear.
“(Ferguson is) still interim champion, but when we fight, it will count as real belt. This is what will happen,” Khabib told TSN.
“They stripped (Conor’s) belt at lightweight, they stripped his featherweight belt. (Me and Tony) are going to fight for the real belt and that’s it,” he said. “I don’t understand why media people keep talking like, ‘did you strip him or no?’. Of course UFC stripped him.”
Khabib went further to suggest that he might not give McGregor a shot at the title after he wins it this April.
“Now, he has to deserve a title shot,” he said about McGregor. “My plan, beat Tony Ferguson and then UFC are going to try and put McGregor next in line? No, he has to deserve it. I’m going to tell him ‘hey, get in line.’”