It sounds like Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t buying Conor McGregor’s retirement announcement.
McGregor announced his intent to hang up his gloves last week but most believe that it’s not the last we’ve seen of ‘The Notorious’ in the Octagon.
Donald Cerrone, who was in talks to fight McGregor this summer, reckons that it was no more than an attempt from the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion to keep himself in the headlines while UFC President Dana White also refuses to believe that McGregor is legitimately retired.
The latest person to have his say on McGregor’s retirement claim is the last man to share the Octagon with him and Khabib Nurmagomedov has likened the Irishman to a jealous ex-wife.
https://twitter.com/DenisGeykoRT/status/1113007937189015553
“Conor acts like a jealous wife, who says ‘I will leave’ all the time but then comes back,” Nurmagomedov said during a talk at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow (via Denis Geyko).
Nurmagomedov was referring to the fact that McGregor claimed he was retiring in 2016, only to return four months later for his rematch with Nate Diaz after eventually getting his way with the UFC.
The undefeated Russian, who submitted McGregor in the main event of UFC 229 last October, is currently suspended for his role in the post-fight brawl and while he is free to return to action this summer, he intends to sit out for a full year in solidarity with his banned teammates Zubaira Tukhugov and Abubakar Nurmagomedov.
With an interim lightweight title fight between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier scheduled for UFC 236 later this month, Nurmagomedov is targeting Autumn for his return.
“I want to come back in September,” Nurmagomedov said. “But Zubaira Tukhugov is still banned, and I won’t fight ahead of him. I jumped out of the cage. He shouldn’t suffer because of my actions.”
