McGregor blasts ‘scurrying, hiding rat’ Khabib Nurmagomedov

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

It sounds like the former two-division UFC champion is getting fired up about the potential of facing Justin Gaethje, calls Khabib “the biggest bottle fighter in the game.” Whether it was Saturday night’s m…

UFC 229: Khabib v McGregor

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

It sounds like the former two-division UFC champion is getting fired up about the potential of facing Justin Gaethje, calls Khabib “the biggest bottle fighter in the game.”

Whether it was Saturday night’s main event that got Conor McGregor all fired up, or maybe recent comments that Khabib Nurmagomedov made to ESPN – where he compared the former double-champ to an “old prostitute” – the UFC’s most notable star put the Dagestani lightweight champion on blast over social media.

In a stream of Tweets sent out Monday afternoon, McGregor made it clear that he believes he’ll be the next one to face Justin Gaethje—instead of Nurmagomedov.

McGregor also went after Khabib’s management team, calling back to his “terrorist snitch” comments from years past, likely a reference to the book Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD’s Secret Spying Unit and Bin Laden’s Final Plot against America. The book includes information about an “Egyptian mixed martial arts expert” named Ali Abdelaziz, apparently recruited by the NYPD in 2002.

In a recent social media post of his own, Nurmagomedov told fans that he expects to be ready to fight by July. Which should give the UFC plenty of leeway to put together a fight with Gaethje in August or September—the timeline the newly crowned interim champ says he’s looking at.

If, however – given the current potential for travel restrictions and other pandemic complications – the bout can’t be put together, it may just be that we end up seeing Gaethje and McGregor share the Octagon sometime in 2020.