The second instalment to the Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov rivalry is likely to happen soon.
‘The Notorious’ from Ireland made a successful mixed martial arts return on Saturday night after beating Donald Cerrone in less than one minute at the main event of UFC 246 fight card.
Bouncing back from a fourth round submission loss to Khabib, McGregor displayed his best performance in recent years to eke out the second fastest win of his MMA career.
“Yea I changed levels and came into it so it was a good shot. Ireland baby! It’s feels good Joe,” McGregor said in the post-fight interview.
“I made history here tonight. Add that to my record, I’m the first fighter in UFC history to secure knockout victories at featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.”
“That’s three weight divisions. So I am very very proud of that.”
After the win, talks bout his next opponent surfaced on social media, with MMA fans calling the UFC to book ‘The Notorious’ against Jorge Masvidal for the ‘BMF’ title.
Fun Match-up
UFC president Dana White has praised McGregor for an ‘unbelievable’ performance against Cerrone and promised not to criticize him for his decision to move up to 170 pounds.
Amid speculations on his next fight, the outspoken head honcho claimed there are plenty of fun match-ups for the Irishman but the UFC sees the Khabib rematch as the fight that makes the most sense.
“There’s always somebody fun that can match up with Conor and everybody wants to fight Conor.”
“Everybody’s wanted to fight Conor for the last however many years.”
“When you look at what makes sense, we’re at a place where Conor was saying going into the Khabib fight, he had a lot of personal stuff.”
“Some stuff self-inflicted, he had injuries and he had all these things going on, and he has been obsessed with getting that rematch, because he knows that he wasn’t 100 percent right.”
Fight To Make
Nurmagomedov is fresh off an easy win over Dustin Poirier to unify the lightweight titles as he remains undefeated in 28 professional bout.
White, then, confirmed that McGregor vs Khabib II is the next fight to make, citing its global appeal as the major reason.
“When you look at this for Khabib, Khabib is 28-0, he’s undefeated, and you start talking about this kid’s legacy.”
“First of all, to 28-0 in this sport, I don’t care who you fought, it’s tough to do.”
“Well, this guy’s a world champion.”
“After tonight and with how Khabib won the fight the first time and how famous Khabib has become since that first fight, we’re looking at (Marvin) Hagler-(Tommy) Hearns. (Muhammad) Ali-(George) Foreman. Ali-(Joe) Frazier.”
“This is a massive fight with global appeal. It’s the fight that you make. (McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov) is the fight that makes sense.”
“It’s the fight for the 155-pound title.”
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov)