Conor McGregor: Khabib reveals who he wants to fight after smashing Notorious at UFC 229
CONOR MCGREGOR - KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV has his sights set on fighting Tony Ferguson after beating Conor McGregor next month.
The undefeated Nurmagomedov will defend his lightweight crown against McGregor two weeks on Saturday in the main event of UFC 229, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Nurmagomedov is confident of having his hand raised on fight night and making McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon a night to forget.
And after seeing off ‘The Notorious’, the Dagestan native will turn his attention to getting his hands on former interim titleholder Tony Ferguson, who’ll take on Anthony Pettis in UFC 229’s co-main event of the evening.
“I hope he’s going to win,” Nurmagomedov told Brian Vega. “But my opinion, this fight is stylistically little bit bad matchup for Tony Ferguson.
“I don’t know how he feel after he is injured. He is 34 years old. He come back after injury.
"If he wins, it’s going to be big fight next year. One more biggest fight in UFC history. Let’s go.”
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson, 29 and 34 respectively, have been slated to face one another a staggering four times.
Their first two scheduled encounters were cancelled due to the pair suffering knee and lung injuries respectively.
Conor McGregor shows off intense training before Khabib clash
If he wins, it’s going to be big fight next year
The pair’s third proposed meeting, which was due to serve as UFC 209's co-main event, fell through as Nurmagomedov suffered complications with his weight cut and was deemed medically unfit to compete.
And their fourth encounter - which was supposed to headline UFC 223 in April - collapsed a few days before the card as Ferguson tore his left MCL while fulfilling his media duties for the event.
Nurmagomedov’s head coach Javier Mendez also wants to see ‘The Eagle’ finally lock horns with Ferguson, telling Express Sport: “That’s a fight that needs to happen. Those injuries man, it’s a fluke.
“Stuff has happened to both of them on both sides. Just explainable crap. Hey, they got to do it. They have to go back around.
“That’s a fight that needs to happen for both of them.
“Tony needs the opportunity to let it all out. I would hate to see that fight never happen.”
UFC 229 Fight Card
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor (lightweight title fight)
Tony Ferguson vs Anthony Pettis (lightweight bout)
Ovince Saint Preux vs Dominick Reyes (light-heavyweight bout)
Derrick Lewis vs Alexander Volkov (heavyweight bout)
Michelle Waterson vs Felice Herring (women’s strawweight bout)
Prelims
Sean O’Malley vs Jose Alberto Quinonez (men’s bantamweight bout)
Sergio Pettis vs Jussier Formica (men’s flyweight bout)
Scott Holtzman vs Alan Patrick (lightweight bout)
Fight Pass Prelims
Ryan LaFlare vs Tony Martin (welterweight bout)
Lina Lansberg vs Yana Kunitskaya (women’s bantamweight bout)