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13th Nov 2016

Conor McGregor explains why he’s not keen on fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov

The Russian branded him a "chicken"

Darragh Murphy

UFC 205 sprang a lot of unknowns on us with regards to Conor McGregor’s next move.

At what weight division will we see him fight next? How long a break will he be taking from MMA? When he does return, who will his first opponent be?

So many questions and just one furious Russian yelling demands at UFC president Dana White midway through a fight.

UFC 205: Nurmagomedov v Johnson

White revealed that Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was victorious in his lightweight clash with Michael Johnson on Saturday night, had been roaring at him from inside the Octagon that he wanted a title shot next.

“That guy was screaming at me in between every round ‘Give me that fucking belt!’ and I was yelling back to him, saying ‘Finish this fight first’,” White said in the post-fight press conference.

“Every round he’s screaming at me. I get it, understood. You want a title shot, we’ll figure it out.”

Nurmagomedov dedicated the vast majority of his interview with Joe Rogan to a call-out aimed at “chicken” McGregor, who went on to defeat UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez later that evening.

https://twitter.com/EdwardTuzhilin/status/797735423887937536

But ‘The Notorious’ is not sold on the undefeated Dagestani as an opponent.

“He’s fought once in eight years,” McGregor said, referencing Nurmagomedov’s track record of injuries.

UFC 205: Alvarez v McGregor

“He doesn’t fight frequently enough for my liking. For me to commit to something like that, I’m going to need solid proof that people are going to show up and he’s a consistent pull-out merchant.

“He had a good performance tonight, fair play to him, but we’ll see how it goes.

“I need to see activity, I need to see consistency, I need to see me.

“If you want me to come and change your life, if you want me to come pick you then you’d better have some damn reasons for me to do that.”

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