Khabib Nurmagomedov's manager reveals who Conor McGregor would have to beat before getting a rematch
Conor McGregor's roadmap for 2020 is pretty straightforward. The Notorious wants to return to his glory days and become the UFC Champion once again. He wants the Khabib Nurmagomedov rematch and he's been very vocal about the same ever since he lost to the reigning Lightweight Champion in 2018.
While McGregor looked impressive in his win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246, Khabib Nurmagomedov's manager Ali Abdelaziz feels that the Irishman would have to defeat Justin Gaethje before getting another crack as the Dagestani Mauler.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Abdelaziz mentioned that he isn't convinced with McGregor's TKO win over a 36-year-old Cerrone who was coming off of a loss. (H/T: BJPenn)
“You can’t get a title fight beating a guy who is 36 years old coming off of a loss. If he wants to get a title shot, like Khabib said, he needs to start fighting guys like Gaethje or Islam Makhachev, this type of young guys, up-and-coming, who are coming off of wins. It was a good performance, he treated Cerrone the way he should have treated him. But of course not (he shouldn’t get a rematch). It was a huge fight, but at the end of the day, Khabib is all about principle.”
Abdelaziz advised McGregor to get a win over the dangerous Gaethje before knocking on Nurmagomedov's door for a rematch.
“Conor can say whatever he wants. But my advice to Conor is, hey b****h, go fight Justin Gaethje, get a win, and after that come back for a title shot."
Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to defend his title against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 and out of all the opponents that have tried and failed to knock The Eagle off his perch, El Cucuy is being billed as the most credible contender.
For Conor McGregor, the UFC can always decide to give him the winner of Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson, however, the promotion could also book the Irishman in another fight before he gets cleared for a title fight at the end of 2020.
Gaethje is currently ranked #4 in the Lightweight division and a #1 contender's fight against McGregor actually sounds great on paper.
McGregor has mentioned that he feels great at Welterweight and he could also decide to stick around in the 170-pound division, potentially for a mega fight against Jorge Masvidal.