Khabib Nurmagomedov has no intention of facing Conor McGregor again any time soon, despite UFC boss Dana White claiming the Irishman would be in line for a rematch if he wins on his octagon comeback in January.
McGregor returns to face Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in the welterweight main event at UFC 246 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on January 18 – the first octagon outing for The Notorious since he lost to Khabib at the same venue in October 2018.
Khabib is booked to defend his lightweight title in a long-awaited match-up with Tony Ferguson in New York in April.
Assuming the Russian wins that fight and McGregor beats Cerrone, UFC chief White recently said a rematch between the pair would happen “pretty soon.”
Khabib, however, clearly has little time for any such talk, dismissing McGregor versus Cerrone as a “second-rate” fight.
“I think Cerrone lost seven or eight of his last 10 fights, the other guy [McGregor] is going into his fourth year without a victory. It's the minor leagues, it doesn't matter who wins,” Khabib said in Russian at a press conference in the city of Krasnodar in his homeland.
“It surprises me when Dana White says that if Conor wins and I beat Ferguson, there will be a rematch.
"I decide who I fight next.
“In order to face me again, first of all [McGregor] needs to drop to 70kg [155lbs], and then win 10 fights in a row, just like I did. Then we can think about a rematch.
“For now, let him beat second-rate fighters,” Khabib added.
That could put the undefeated Dagestani on collision course with the UFC hierarchy, with White reiterating on Thursday that McGregor deserves a shot at the lightweight title, should he beat Cerrone.
“Come on guys, look what Conor’s done over the last however many years,” White said.
“Then he loses to Khabib in a fight that was – when you talk about bad blood – it’s like the next level of bad blood.
“[Justin] Gaethje was on his way up, too. We’ve offered Gaethje a lot of fights that Gaethje hasn’t taken, either. So Conor’s in line next for [a title] fight if he beats Cowboy.”
Of course, all of this is hypothetical at present as both Khabib and McGregor need to come through their respective bouts before even contemplating a rematch.
But one thing’s for sure: Khabib is not down for running it back with his Irish nemesis any time in the near future.
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