MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz says Conor McGregor is destined to end up “fighting the Kardashians” in sideshow exhibition bouts, also claiming his client Khabib Nurmagomedov rejected $100 million to face Floyd Mayweather.
Since his loss to Khabib in their Las Vegas title match in 2018, former two-weight king McGregor has endured mixed fortunes inside the cage, returning to defeat Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in January of 2020 before a brutal KO defeat to Dustin Poirier earlier this year.
McGregor and Poirier are preparing for a trilogy fight on July 10 in Las Vegas, although Abdelaziz has dismissed the Irishman – with whom there is no love lost – as a spent force who is destined for sideshow exhibition fights.
“Now you have McGregor fighting Dustin Poirier, probably McGregor’s going to quit again, he’s a quitter,” Abdelaziz said witheringly in an appearance on Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin’ show.
“To me, he’s irrelevant. He’s like a high-end prostitute. Now people want to go out on a date with him, to show, ‘hey, I have a pretty girl with me.’
“He’s the pretty girl, and after that you can go show the other girls and say, ‘hey, I got this beautiful girl, you wanna date me?’
“That means fighters, they fight him, they get this clout fighting Conor McGregor… But they don’t understand Conor McGregor hasn’t won in three years. He’s a high-price hooker."
“He becomes this stepping stone. But also you make money when you fight Conor McGregor, because he’s a draw. But how long is that going to last for?
“Him and Dustin Poirier, I like Dustin, but both looked like shit [in their last fight].”
Abdelaziz mocked McGregor further by claiming the Irishman’s future lay in exhibitions with the likes of YouTube boxing wannabe Jake Paul – or even social media celebrity sisters the Kardashians.
“The McGregor thing is finished. McGregor now is going to be fighting Jake Paul, the Kardashians, he’s gonna fight chicks… That’s what’s going on,” Abdelaziz said.
Meanwhile, McGregor's bitter rival Khabib called time on his undefeated MMA career after defending his UFC lightweight title against Justin Gaethje last October, citing a pledge to his mother that he could no longer continue following the death of his father and trainer Abdulmanap earlier that year.
Since then the 29-0 Dagestani has resisted vigorous efforts to entice him back for one last Octagon outing, with UFC boss Dana White finally admitting defeat in March as Khabib formally vacated the 155lbs title.
Manager Abdelaziz said that White wasn’t the only one desperate to lure his client out of retirement and repeated a claim that Khabib was offered $100 million to meet former five-weight world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather in the ring.
“Khabib got offered $100 million after he was retired to fight Floyd Mayweather. $100 million. You can ask Floyd, you can ask everybody,” Abdelaziz told Tyson and co-host Henry Cejudo.
“Khabib said, ‘no, I’m retired, I told my mother I’m retired, I’m gonna keep my word to my mother. If my mother told me to fight again maybe I will but right now, she told me not to fight’.
“He comes from a Muslim culture, we respect our mothers very dearly, we can’t go to heaven without our mother’s permission.”
Efforts to get Khabib in the ring with Mayweather first emerged in earnest after the Russian choked out McGregor in their October 2018 title fight.
That was McGregor’s return to the UFC following his own lucrative foray to face Mayweather in the squared circle, which reportedly netted both men nine-figure paydays.
Abdelaziz also addressed another name many felt would be enough to lure Khabib back into the Octagon – that of former two-weight UFC champion Georges St-Pierre.
The Canadian icon, who won world titles at middleweight and welterweight, turned 40 this year and Abdelaziz asserted that his man would have got the better of him.
“As a human, I don’t want to see Georges [fight], he’s 40 years old,” said the MMA manager.
“They both have the same game, but Khabib is much younger, more ferocious. I don’t think it would even be a fair fight.”
Tyson also appeared to back Khabib in a fantasy match-up with St-Pierre, adding: “I don’t think the age matters, but I think Khabib is invincible.”
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