Conor McGregor thinks UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is walking away with some unfinished business to take care of.
Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) announced his retirement after submitting Justin Gaethje last October but has not yet officially vacated his title. UFC president Dana White is scheduled to meet with Nurmagomedov in Abu Dhabi and recently admitted that the rematch with McGregor is the fight to make should McGregor get past Dustin Poirier in the UFC 257 main event Jan. 23.
But McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) doesn’t only think Nurmagomedov has unfinished business with him, but also with Tony Ferguson, whom he was scheduled to meet on five different occasions before they all fell through for various reasons.
“How you could walk away at this stage is baffling to me, but each to their own,” McGregor told TheMacLife. “There’s so many fights out there. Even to carry on around the Tony (Ferguson) situation – I don’t care about nothing. You’re scheduled to fight a man, no matter what, fights must take place. You can’t just scurry away from bouts. It’s been the hallmark of his approach. I was not surprised to see him walk away or scurry away, I should say, so it is what it is. We carry on.”
While McGregor won’t get held up on Nurmagomedov’s future, he admits that his bout with Poirier should have been for the lightweight title in order to provide more division clarity.
“I feel it should be,” McGregor said. “I don’t think Dana is going to be bouncing in to throw me a belt straight away with the way the year went, but I understand. What are the belts? I’m here to compete, get some good competition, and the belts will come. I think maybe the next bout is fair.
“I would have liked to see it this fight, but there were circumstances surrounding the man scurrying away to an extent, and they’ve given him a bit of time. We’ll see what happens. I’m not gonna get caught up in the politics of this business. I have in the past, and it’s hampered me.”
Conor McGregor baffled by Khabib’s decision to retire: ‘You can’t just scurry away from bouts’