We’ve still got a month left in 2016, but Khabib Nurmagomedov is already mapping 2017 out in detail.
‘The Eagle’ has his sights firmly set on the UFC lightweight title shot that has eluded him for so long and he knows just how he can remove all other potential contenders from the equation.
After lightweight champion Conor McGregor was stripped of his featherweight crown at the weekend, it became clear that his foreseeable future remains at 155lbs, as that was the title he was allowed to keep.
We know for certain that we won’t see ‘The Notorious’ before the summer as he has decided to take some time away from the sport in order to focus on the upcoming arrival of his firstborn child.
But Nurmagomedov doesn’t want to wait around and he has announced that he hopes to fight fellow top lightweight Tony Ferguson in a March bout for the interim belt.
“I feel very bad about [McGregor’s hiatus] because before this year I have two years rest because I was injured all the time. Now I don’t want [to be] waiting for this guy. If Conor doesn’t want fight before May/June, I want to take other fight. I want to fight for the interim belt with Tony Ferguson,” Nurmagomedov told RT Sport.
“Last time he was injured. He pulled out, not me. He’s not coming to April 16 to the fight. Before I have been injured and now it’s, why not? Now, I think the UFC wants to make this fight. I feel this and for me its perfect date is March. Not early, only March.”
The undefeated Russian went so far as to claim that a clash with Ferguson, who is on a nine-fight winning streak in the Octagon, would be substantially more difficult for him than one against the Irishman at the top of the division.
“Tony Ferguson is tough guy, tough opponent,” he continued. “Nine-win streak. Why not? I think this is real high level lightweight fight… not Conor versus me. I think this is real high level fight.”
Nurmagomedov then took to Facebook where he shared a fight poster with his followers of what would undoubtedly be the biggest fight of 2017.
The 28-year-old made no secret of the fact that he is hoping for the unification bout to take place in his native Russia, a market in which the UFC is eager to make waves.
That’s precisely the fight that long-time UFC colour commentator Joe Rogan predicted we’d see from McGregor when he makes his comeback.
Catch up with this week’s episode of Football Friday Live
