After his win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in January, UFC president Dana White made it clear he wants Conor McGregor to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov next.
However, Nurmagomedov has a lightweight title defense coming up against Tony Ferguson. The pair headline UFC 249 on pay-per-view (PPV) from Brooklyn, New York on April 18. It’s by no means a guarantee that Nurmagomedov wins that bout, and even if he does, White tells TMZ Sports he’s not sure if McGregor is willing to wait that long to fight “The Eagle” again.
“Yeah,” White said. “Khabib if he wins, but I don’t know if Conor wants to wait for him. We’ll see what happens. Conor may not wait.”
Nurmagomedov recently stated in an interview that he was unimpressed with McGregor’s 40-second first-round TKO win over Cerrone. The Russian champ suggested McGregor hand-picked a favorable matchup for his Octagon return. Prior to his fight with Cerrone, McGregor hadn’t competed in MMA competition since his submission loss to Nurmagomedov in 2018.
“First of all, Conor does not handpick his opponents,” White said. “Conor McGregor has fought anybody that we’ve asked him to fight, and who has been available. I mean, guys have pulled out on Conor two or three times. Conor literally went to the gym and said ‘Tell me who I’m fighting.'”
White noted that Nurmagomedov and McGregor hate one another, therefore you’ll never hear them say good things about one another.
“They hate each other,” White said. “They hate each other. If you think that you’re going to do an interview with Khabib and he’s going to say great things about Conor McGregor, it’s never going to happen. And if you interview Conor McGregor, he’s never going to say great things about Khabib. They hate each other.”
