Video: Could Khabib Nurmagomedov possibly be a bigger star than Conor McGregor?

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is arguably the UFC’s biggest and most recognizable star – in the U.S., anyway. But could Khabib Nurmagomedov stake claim to that unofficial title?

Our partners at Champions.co recently posed the question to fighters and fans – including some obviously biased parties who had passionate arguments about which vet is the bigger star.

McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) has raised his profile in recent months with talks of a potential boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, which has gotten him plenty of attention from the mainstream sports media. However, with that fight currently little more than a pipe dream, his next opponent will likely come from Saturday’s UFC 209 pay-per-view co-headliner.

And, of course, that fight features Nurmagomedov (24-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who’s No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings. He meets No. 3 Tony Ferguson (22-3 MMA, 12-1 UFC), and the winner of the interim lightweight title fight is expected to meet McGregor in a title-unification bout later this year.

McGregor has become a sensation in his home country of Ireland, with a population of 4.6 million. But with Nurmagomedov such a massive star in Russia (population 143.5 million), could the Dagestani fighter actually be a bigger international star?

Check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 209, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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