Conor McGregor seems to have a way to make all of his most outrageous claims come true. He said he would be beat Jose Aldo, a man who hadn’t lost in a decade. He knocked him out in 13 seconds. He said he would become a two-division UFC champion, only the third fighter in history to accomplish such a feat (and the first to hold both titles at the same time). Then he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to make that dream come true, capturing the lightweight championship.
Then, in what everyone thought was the biggest bunch of BS a fighter has ever spouted, he proclaimed that he would fight retired boxer Floyd Mayweather (outside of the UFC, no less) and rake in his biggest pay day ever. Everyone laughed and laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the idea. And how that’s happening too, on August 26 in Las Vegas.
Somehow, McGregor always gets what he wants.
After all the hype of Mayweather vs. McGregor dies down, regardless of whether the fight is actually any good, there’s still the question of what becomes of the Irishman’s UFC career. Some have speculated that he will simply retire after cashing in huge with the Mayweather fight, but UFC president Dana White has said that McGregor wants to fight twice in 2017 — once in the boxing ring and once back in the UFC octagon.
In a recent interview with MMAJunkie, White revealed that McGregor actually has the whole thing planned out already, right down to the opponent and location.
“You know what Conor told me?” said White. “He said ‘I want Khabib in Russia. Isn’t he f**king awesome? He’s like ‘I want Khabib, in Russia.’ He’s awesome. Conor McGregor is a f**king unicorn. There’s nothing like him. He’s working on boxing Floyd Mayweather and then he’s talking about fighting Khabib in Russia right after.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov is an undefeated UFC lightweight and one of the best small fighters in the world. Not only that, but the UFC have never held an event in Russia, which is Nurmagomedov’s home country. He was supposed to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 209 for the right to face McGregor when he returns, but had to bow out of that bout at the last minute due to health problems relating to his weight cut.
Say what you will about McGregor, but the man is relentless when it comes to getting his own way. So far, it’s worked out very well for him.
