Khabib Nurmagomedov may yet get to fight for the UFC interim lightweight title and he may even win it. Still, a fight against Conor McGregor is not looking good.
'The Eagle' is currently recovering from a weight cut attempt that went badly wrong and left him on an IV drip at a Las Vegas hospital just 36 hours before he was due to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 209.
Having been out of UFC action for two years, Nurmagomedov has been scheduled to fight five times since late 2015. He has fought, and won, twice, had an opponent pull out through injury and missed two others [injury and the latest weight cut incident].
Last weekend's health scare forced UFC president Dana White to admit fighting at 155lbs may not be advisable for Nurmagomedov in the future. Either he moves up a weight class or he sorts out his diet and weight loss/gain regime.
One man who has not commented on the whole UFC 209 situation is current lightweight champion Conor McGregor. However, he has spoken about Nurmagomedov's track record before.
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UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping believes McGregor will never sign up for a fight against Nurmagomedov after the UFC 209 affair. He told his new podcast,
Believe You Me:
"One million per cent, it KILLS his chances of ever fighting Conor and it puts the UFC in a very difficult position...
"If they make that rematch between Khabib and Tony, and Khabib wins, there is no way Conor is going to accept that because he is going to say, 'I'm not going to take that risk of having an entire fight camp for him not to make it to the Octagon so I'm not going to do it'."
Bisping's views tally with that of Chael Sonnen, who suggested Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor was all set to kick off a massive UFC television deal in Russia that now needs to be re-looked at.
"I need to see consistency," McGregor said of potential challengers after his UFC 205 title win.
"I need to see me."
Right now, he sees nothing like it.
