Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach admits it's on UFC to decide whether Conor McGregor is backup for UFC 249
Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov is a fight that the world has been craving to witness for years now but for some reason or the other, the fight never came to fruition. Now that the fight is finally scheduled to take place with the UFC lightweight title hanging in the balance, fans hope that the two gladiators finally get the chance to lock horns inside the Octagon.
However, if that isn't the case and Tony Ferguson's unorthodox training methods somehow lead to an unforeseen circumstance where he is unable to compete, then we might see another historic rematch - Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor. Although the reigning lightweight champion Nurmagomedov isn't to keen on facing the Irishman again, his coach Javier Mendez has accepted the fact that the decision may not be Khabib's in entirety.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, Mendez said that the UFC reserves the final say in terms of who a fighter will face inside the Octagon and if the time comes, Nurmagomedov may have to face his arch-rival again.
“Let’s not be naive and think that we’re in control. We’re not in control. We can control what we do, but the organization controls who you fight and who you don’t fight.”
Mendez says that he does not want to focus on McGregor ahead of the fight against Ferguson and instead focus on the positive side which means that the world will get to witness two of the greatest lightweight athletes in the history of the UFC go head to head inside the Octagon.
“I said this from the first interview I did right after he beat Conor, they asked what’s next, I said Tony. Tony deserves it, Tony needs to be next in line, and that was a while back, and then Tony didn’t get it, Dustin [Poirier] got it. It’s the biggest platform for both of them, fighting each other wasn’t meant [then]."
"This is the biggest platform ever for both of them to fight each other. And maybe it was meant to be this way, maybe it was meant to be bigger than the what it was back then. So I’d just rather look on the positive side of it, you know.”