Mike Neville – Sports Editor
The UFC president Dana White is all about the money and it appears to be that the million-dollar man is desperate to convince Khabib Nurmagomedov to come out of retirement and have another fight with Conor McGregor.
When UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement after securing a submission victory against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, shock and unanswered questions arose.
Fans were left wondering why is he going out when he is still the best, who will be the next champion? Who deserves it?
Nurmagomedov said his father’s passing was the reason for his retirement, and that he could not go on without him.
The lightweight division has many skilled fighters like Charles Oliveira who defeated Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler who rocked Dan Hooker in the first round of his UFC debut, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Porier to name a few.
We cannot forget about the man in everyone’s mind, the notorious Conor McGregor who is scratching for a rematch with the Eagle Nurmagomedov.
When White announced that the notorious one would be returning to the octagon to face Poirier for the second time, fans and critics automatically placed McGregor as their favorite to win.
Since his loss to Nurmagomedov, McGregor has had only one other fight. A first round win against Donald “Cowboy” Carrone and then his fight against Poirier.
Many speculated that the winner of Conor vs Dustin would crown the new champion or set up a matchup for the lightweight title vs Nurmagomedov.
For Dana, the dream of a McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov, two fights went down the drain when he was knocked out for the first time in his career to Poirier in the second round. Or did it?
Like I said before, Poirier vs. McGregor 2 was supposed to crown the new contender to face Khabib but since Conor lost, White is not pulling out all the stops to make a dream fight happen.
White has said in many interviews that he is looking to book Poirier vs McGregor three with the winner facing Khabib for the title, giving the Notorious one yet another chance.
There is a video of White speaking to Khabib that proves he is pushing hard for a McGregor Khabib rematch.
“This fight with Poirier is trending bigger than the fight with you and Conor on pay-per-view,” White said. “Imagine what you and Conor would do in another fight. Just saying. I’m just saying.”
If the fight were to happen, White has a point that it would be the biggest rematch in the history of fighting since the bad blood between Khabib and McGregor is still very present.
Even after his loss to Poirier, when asked about a rematch with the Eagle, the eyes of the Notorious one lit up and said that he wants another shot at the champion. Khabib has expressed no interest in a rematch but in the 20’s anything is possible.
