Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t trying to cash in by fighting Conor McGregor.
Instead the undefeated Russian wrecking machine is mostly concerned about his upcoming fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 223 where he will finally have the chance to compete for the lightweight championship.
Now there was obviously a lot of confusion when the fight was announced as UFC president Dana White refused to say McGregor had been stripped of the title he won in November 2016 and hasn’t defended since then.
Meanwhile, the UFC 223 main event between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson was announced as an undisputed title fight for the lightweight championship.
Well according to Nurmagomedov, the UFC has assured him that McGregor won’t be champion come April 7 when he steps into the Octagon with Ferguson to battle for the lightweight title.
“I spoke with Dana [White], I spoke to everybody about this situation. But they say we are going to fight for a vacant belt, vacant undisputed belt,” Nurmagomedov told RT Sport in Russia. “This is not Tony Ferguson’s interim belt, this is a vacant belt. And after when we fight (on) the 7th of April, on the 8th of April they are going to make it official — whoever wins becomes the real champ.
“Now Tony Ferguson is still an interim champion. Whoever wins becomes the real champ.”
Photo by Damon Martin
If that comes to pass, Nurmagomedov plans on winning the undisputed lightweight championship at UFC 223 and then it becomes a waiting game to see who’s next.
Now the most logical matchup would be for McGregor to fight for the belt he never technically lost, but Nuramgomedov doesn’t seem all that interested.
Instead, Nurmagomedov says he would rather face a legitimate contender in the lightweight division — someone who has multiple wins in a row and has really earned the shot rather than McGregor, who only had one fight at 155 pounds and then disappeared from the sport for more than a year.
“He can fight with [Nate] Diaz, he can fight in boxing, but when I will beat Inshallah (by God’s will) Tony Ferguson, I am going to make him humble,” Nurmagomedov said. “And he will have to stay on the line. He’ll have to stay on the line because he has only one fight in 155. And he wants to fight for the title? No, no way.
“When I become UFC lightweight champ I am going to say ‘hey, who is a real contender, who has five, six or seven wins streak.’ They have to fight for the title, not you. We will see what happens, but I don’t think that he will ever fight with me. I think they understand what will happen.”
Things will certainly get interesting should Nurmagomedov beat Ferguson in April and become the undisputed champion. As of now there’s also still no word on when McGregor plans to return to action as he continues to negotiate with the UFC on a new contract following his reported $100 million payday to fight Floyd Maywaether last August.
