It’s been one year, eight months and eleven days since we last seen Conor McGregor inside the Octagon.
We all know what happened on that occasion, ‘The Notorious’ toyed with Eddie Alvarez en route to winning the UFC lightweight belt and in the process became the company’s first ever simultaneous two-division champion, dubbing himself ‘The Champ Champ’.
What followed was a mega-fight with boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather coupled with a supposed $100 million cheque, but even that fight was nearly a year ago, and still, we see no signs of a return to action.
While McGregor’s been off enjoying his riches, the UFC has had to move on.
In the meantime, Khabib Nurmagomedov has torn through the UFC lightweight roster, winning the belt at UFC 223. The Dagestan native has a perfect record of 26-0, and the world is crying out for a match up between him and McGregor in order to confirm who the real King of the lightweight division is.
Rumours have been swirling for months now, and were drummed up a notch after both men were spotted at the recent World Cup final in Russia.
Many feel that McGregor is just playing the game though, and that a dream match-up between the pair might never actually happen.
Ali Abdelaziz is the CEO of Dominance MMA Management and he represents a host of UFC stars. Currently, none are as big as Khabib.
4 years injuries, hardships, fight cancellations, 4 opponents changed, getting ambushed when god/Allah want something nobody can stop. if you have a dream go out there and work hard and you Can make your dream become true. And number one thing stay loyal. @TeamKhabib 🙏🏻☝️ pic.twitter.com/LVkUbCWgYY
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) April 8, 2018
Speaking to veteran MMA journalist Ariel Helwani on his ESPN show, Ali claimed to have heard nothing yet from McGregor’s ‘boss’.
“Conor’s boss has not called me, has not talked to me, has not asked me anything,” he said.
When pressed on the matter he continued, “Conor’s number one b**** for Dana White. He writes his paycheck.”
Abdelaziz continued on his rant, branding McGregor a clown, claiming that Khabib’s team will not wait around for the fight to happen.
“Dana White wants to make this fight, he understands it’s the biggest fight in UFC history, but one of the things we’re not gonna do, everybody begs to fight this clown, and we’re not gonna beg to fight this clown.
“We wanna beat his ass, he doesn’t set a good example for the sport, he doesn’t set a good example for kids, if we have to fight him, we’re gonna have to fight him. If we don’t fight him we don’t give a f***.”
Abdelaziz became heated when talking about the SBG fighter, and when asked why it had become personal he highlighted McGregor’s actions before Khabib’s fight in Brooklyn.
“You know why it’s so personal, you’re on a f****** bus and you got some motherf***** and twenty of his punk ass friends throwing a dolly on you and trying to attack you, you’re gonna be f****** mad, it is personal, it’s 100% personal.”
Ali believes that McGregor fully intends on playing the UFC when it comes to booking the eagerly anticipated fight.
“There’s no fight… Conor’s probably going to give the UFC a run around to negotiate this deal, nobody has come to me about this deal, nobody has come to me about nothing.”
When asked if October 6th was the preferred date for the fight to happen Abdelaziz claimed:
“Bring this Irish man and his whole f****** team, we’re gonna beat Conor first, and afterwards we’re gonna beat his whole team in the parking lot.”
Helwani finished on the subject of McGregor by asking if there was a deadline for the fight to be signed before Khabib moves on.
The response was: “I need to know something by Monday.”
So there you have it, according to Khabib’s manager the clock is ticking on whether the biggest fight of 2018 is going to happen. Let’s hope all associated parties can come to an agreement soon.
