Conor McGregor has been largely quiet since his boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather in August. There’s been speculation of him returning to MMA as well as rumors of another high-profile boxing bout. One thing McGregor is talking about is his desire to one day fight in Russia, a country with a wealth of MMA talent, […]
Conor McGregor has been largely quiet since his boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather in August. There’s been speculation of him returning to MMA as well as rumors of another high-profile boxing bout.
One thing McGregor is talking about is his desire to one day fight in Russia, a country with a wealth of MMA talent, but where the UFC has yet to break ground.
McGregor took to his Instagram(MMA Mania) following his teammate Artem Lobov’s honorary training of Russian special forces:
“One day soon I will visit Russia and potentially compete there for my Russian fans, alongside my brother Artem. Thank you to all our Russian supporters for recognising our lifetime of hard work and supporting us along the entire way!”
The UFC has yet to hold an event in Russia, although talent like Khabib Nurmagomedov would surely make for an enticing foray into this largely untapped region in terms of MMA. Russia has always had talented fighters to boast of, most notably Bellator heavyweight and former PRIDE champion Fedor Emelianenko.
Nurmagomedov remains undefeated, so perhaps a title fight between McGregor and Khabib could serve as the main event for the UFC’s first ever card in Russia.
Do you expect to see the UFC in Russia in the near future?
Middleweight champion Michael Bisping doesn’t have high hopes for an eventual fight between 155 pound kingpin Conor McGregor and lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov. Khabib’s unceremonious exit from last Saturday’s UFC 209 co-main event against Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight championship harkens back to when McGregor took on former featherweight champ Jose Aldo. Aldo pulled
Middleweight champion Michael Bisping doesn’t have high hopes for an eventual fight between 155 pound kingpin Conor McGregor and lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Khabib’s unceremonious exit from last Saturday’s UFC 209 co-main event against Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight championship harkens back to when McGregor took on former featherweight champ Jose Aldo.
Aldo pulled out of their scheduled bout several times, even after a world tour and heavy promotion and advertising for his title defense against the Irishman, leaving McGregor with a short-notice opponent in Chad Mendes back at UFC 189.
While “The Notorious” won that fight and eventually dethroned Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194, the middleweight champion believes that Conor will be skeptical going into a potential fight with Khabib, who himself has pulled out twice now in scheduled bouts against Ferguson.
“One million percent, it kills his chances of ever fighting Conor and into puts the UFC in a very difficult position,” Bisping said during his podcast on Monday. “If they make that rematch between Khabib and Tony, and Khabib wins, there is no way Conor is going to accept that because he isn’t going to say, ‘I’m not going to take that risk of having an entire fight camp for him to not make it to the Octagon, so I’m not going to do it.”
Bisping went so far as to call Khabib a “pull-out merchant following the undefeated lightweights hospitalization just a day before he was set to take on Ferguson at UFC 209.
While McGregor has been criticized for not defending his featherweight belt (which he eventually relinquished after taking the lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez), Khabib’s pulling out of UFC 209 certainly did not do himself any favors in angling for a title shot.
Following a rough end to 2015, Jose Aldo managed to bounce back in 2016, kinda. Having reigned as the undisputed featherweight champion for five years, Aldo came unstuck against Conor McGregor. During a now-infamous 13-second KO loss, ‘Scarface’ fell to the Irishman, but there was far more at play. Speaking out against his employers consistently,
Following a rough end to 2015, Jose Aldo managed to bounce back in 2016, kinda. Having reigned as the undisputed featherweight champion for five years, Aldo came unstuck against Conor McGregor. During a now-infamous 13-second KO loss, ‘Scarface’ fell to the Irishman, but there was far more at play. Speaking out against his employers consistently, Aldo was facing the UFC as well as McGregor on that December night. He would go seven months without a fight, although demanding a rematch with ‘The Notorious,’ coming close to retiring at one point. Here’s the ‘kinda’ part, although he hasn’t rematched McGregor, Aldo is again the ‘undisputed’ champion.
Defeating Frankie Edgar by decision at UFC 200 scored Aldo the interim title. The fact the promotion even made a junior belt was somewhat ridiculous. Debated and lamented as this was, the interim championship would, at the minimum, lead to the unification rematch. Obviously this was not the case, as by year’s end the UFC had created another interim belt at featherweight, and Aldo was bumped up to full champion. Suddenly finding his voice, the Brazilian went on a number of rants aimed at McGregor, the UFC and newly minted junior boss Max Holloway.
Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
Apparently Everyone Is Ducking Jose
According to Jose Aldo’s coach Andre Pederneiras, pretty much everyone is ducking ‘Scarface’ right now. Allegedly, things got so bad that UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby didn’t know what to tell the two-time featherweight champion. As per Combate:
“Sincerely I don’t know what goes on in (Holloway’s) head. What is happening in UFC today makes us very upset. Holloway, when he accepted the fight with Pettis, both of them knew that the fight was scheduled for February 11th, and both accepted that fight. One or two days later he says that his foot is injured, that he has to take his kid to Disney and that his gym closed. He gave three excuses two days later. It got to the point where I talked with Sean Shelby and he said “I don’t even know what to tell you anymore.”
“Then we made a decision to challenge Khabib (Nurmagomedov), who is the number one in the lightweight division, so we can get McGregor to say “I can’t run away from you anymore.” Because, in Dana’s own words, he didn’t want to accept the fight. “I can’t put a gun on his head and force him to enter.”
Khabib & Ferguson
Although currently slated to face each other at UFC 209, there was a time when Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson were linked to Jose Aldo. Pederneiras says that Ferguson in particular was frustrating, as he’d previously said he would cut to 145 to fight Aldo:
“Then there was a refusal by his father (Khabib’s). I understand as a coach, his father is a coach, I think that maybe it wasn’t his moment to fight Aldo now. I don’t see it as fear, truthfully, it wasn’t the moment, just that. Then we went to the number two in the ranking, who challenged Aldo one week before, that he could go down and fight Aldo in his division. We said “OK,” we will fight you who is the number two in the ranking. Then he doesn’t accept either.”
You call the matchmaker and he says: “What’s going on?” The guy comes and tells you: “What the guys are saying in front of the cameras isn’t the same of what they talk in the backstage.” I mean, when things get real it’s all talk. We can’t tell Conor “You’ll fight.” The guy doesn’t want to go down (in weight), OK, Aldo goes up and fights him. “But Conor doesn’t want it”. I mean, there is a lot of people saying but we don’t know where it goes. They offered us a fight with Cub Swanson that doesn’t make any sense. “Oh, if Aldo doesn’t want to be inactive he fights Cub Swanson”. Dude, what am I going to do with Cub Swanson? It isn’t like “after him, you get the fight”, no, it’s not him. They are offering us anyone to make the fight.”
Following the announcement of Conor McGregor’s ten-month absence, there’s one huge fight to make in the lightweight division. We are talking about Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson, of course. Currently residing in the number one and two spots respectively in the division, ‘The Eagle’ and ‘El Cucuy’ have already been scheduled to fight twice. With
Following the announcement of Conor McGregor’s ten-month absence, there’s one huge fight to make in the lightweight division. We are talking about Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson, of course. Currently residing in the number one and two spots respectively in the division, ‘The Eagle’ and ‘El Cucuy’ have already been scheduled to fight twice. With both men pulling out due to injury in their prior bookings, fans are hoping the third times a charm.
Nurmagomedov is unbeaten as a professional, sporting a 24-0 record he last competed at UFC 205. Defeating Michael Johnson by submission, ‘The Eagle’ looked dominant, as always. Ferguson took out Rafael dos Anjos in his latest performance, extending his win streak to nine against the ex-champion. With few other options available, Nurmagomedov recently challenged Ferguson to an interim title fight in March.
Contracts
Taking to social media, ‘The Eagle’ Tweeted that he’s signed a bout agreement and that Ferguson’s management ‘won’t answer the phone.’ He and ‘El Cucuy’ also engaged in a rather heated exchange on Twitter:
Stop playing games. You told @danawhite you want the fight your manger not answering the phone let's keep I'm done no more taking https://t.co/2aMr5UCpIR
Thinking back to just before UFC 205, many believed that Khabib was fighting for the title. ‘The Eagle’ revealed he’d signed two bout agreements, but the plot took a rather harsh twist later on. When it was announced that McGregor was getting the shot, Nurmagomedov’s father claimed the UFC had used his son’s signatures as leverage. ‘The Eagle’ said it was ‘number one bullsh*t,’ also threatening to leave the UFC if they played games with him again.
Surely with not much else happening in the top five, Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson is happening. Before it’s made official, nothing is certain, but then given their track record the injury curse is always a reality. What do MMA fans want for Christmas? Both Diaz brothers at UFC 209, and Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson!
The UFC lightweight division had a new champion crowned in New York City, and it’s caused quite a fuss. As is usual with anything Conor McGregor does, his victory over Eddie Alvarez altered a wide landscape. First off, the future was very unclear at 155 and 145 pounds. Although the Irish star had committed to
The UFC lightweight division had a new champion crowned in New York City, and it’s caused quite a fuss. As is usual with anything Conor McGregor does, his victory over Eddie Alvarez altered a wide landscape. First off, the future was very unclear at 155 and 145 pounds. Although the Irish star had committed to six months of leave, he also stated he’d be defending both belts in good time. Those plans got stripped away, as did his featherweight title, as the UFC made plans to save UFC 206 and also promote Jose Aldo.
Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway do battle for the junior belt, and so the focus is now on the lightweight division on McGregor’s return. For one top contender in Khabib Nurmagomedov, that day could not come soon enough, or at least it seemed that way for a while. The 24-0 animal from American Kickboxing Academy vowed to ‘torture’ McGregor for five rounds recently. ‘The Eagle’ and ‘The Notorious’ shared a heated backstage confrontation before UFC 205, and after both were victorious it looked like a fight was dead certain.
Not So Fast
Now that the trash talking Irishman is out of play for the moment, Khabib is setting his sights elsewhere. In an interview with RT, as quoted by MMAFighting.com, Nurmagomedov says he now wants to fight Tony Ferguson next:
“I feel very bad about this (McGregor taking a break) because before this year I have two years rest because I have injured all the time. Now I don’t want [to be] waiting for this guy. If Conor don’t want fight before May/June, I want to take other fight. I want to fight for the interim belt with Tony Ferguson.
“Last time he was injured. He pulled out, not me. He’s not coming to April 16 to the fight. Before I have been injured and now it’s, why not? Now, I think the UFC wants to make this fight. I feel this and for me its perfect date is March. Not early, only March.”
“Tony Ferguson is tough guy, tough opponent. Nine-win streak. Why not? I think this is real high level lightweight fight. Not Conor versus me I think this is real high level fight.”
Mandatory Credit: Etzel Espinosa-USA TODAY Sports
History
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have twice been due to dance, but injuries on both sides have hindered that match up. Now that both men are healthy, as are their impressive streaks, is a March interim title clash a no-brainer?
With newly-crowned dual-weight champion Conor McGregor reportedly out until May as he welcomes his first child into the world, all of MMA will have a few months to speculate over just whom “The Notorious” will fight next. Of course the usual suspects of longtime rival Nate Diaz and welterweight champion Tyron Woodley continue to appear
With newly-crowned dual-weight champion Conor McGregor reportedly out until May as he welcomes his first child into the world, all of MMA will have a few months to speculate over just whom “The Notorious” will fight next.
Of course the usual suspects of longtime rival Nate Diaz and welterweight champion Tyron Woodley continue to appear in press clippings. That’s the fight that McGregor’s longtime striking coach Owen Roddy said he wants for his star pupil during an appearance on this week’s “The MMA Hour” (transcribed by MMA Mania):
“For me? Go up and go for three belts … maybe Woodley,” Roddy said. “But, [doing] Diaz again as well is another great one, because I think it’s what fans would want to see. They want to see something special again. [Doing] The Diaz fight again is special. The Woodley fight is special.”
But even with two guaranteed monumental bouts against Diaz and Woodley in the works, there is still the looming specter of undefeated Russian wrestler Khabib Nurmagomedov, who last seen brutally dismantling Michael Johnson at November 12’s UFC 205 – the card where McGregor halted Eddie Alvarez to make history.
“The Eagle,” his coach, his teammates, and even a retired MMA legend have been spouting off that McGregor is ducking Nurmagomedov, but Roddy gave his own perspective from a respectful angle of thoughtful fight analysis before questioning if the fight was big enough for “The Notorious”:
“You can’t really doubt Khabib at this stage now. “He’s a phenomenal grappler — a phenomenal wrestler — but I don’t know whether the excitement is there, you know? Obviously, for Conor, it’s about the pay-per-views … about the money. Whether Khabib will hit the pay-per-views for him, I don’t know, but he’s definitely there. He poses a different threat, so it would be good to try and work out the strikes that are going to land on him.
If the UFC’s biggest superstar is to finally sign on to fight Nurmagomedov, Roddy focused on the belief that aside from his world-class wrestling, “The Eagle” can be hit, as evident by his two most recent performances since returning from a long layoff due to injury:
“He can be hit as well, I will say that,” Roddy continued. “He got hit a bit [against Darrell Horcher] and the same again [against Michael Johnson]. I believe that if you give Conor a chance to land once, I don’t know whether people can come back from that. But, it would be definitely an interesting fight. They’re the three names I suppose: Khabib, Woodley — because it would be just insane — can you imagine the excitement of that? That would be crazy. And then, obviously, you can’t argue with the Nate fight again.”
