The top six fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division have all expressed an interest in stepping in for the injured Rafael dos Anjos and take on Conor McGregor on eleven days’ notice.
They would all pose interesting challenges for McGregor with Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis likely willing to give ‘The Notorious’ the stand-up exchanges that he’s so fond of. While others, such as Eddie Alvarez and Tony Ferguson, would probably utilise a grappling-heavy gameplan against the Dubliner.
There is no word, as of yet, about who will get the chance to face McGregor and earn an unexpected windfall but one fighter whose approaches have very much been rejected is perhaps the most dangerous of the bunch.
Undefeated Sambo specialist Khabib Nurmagomedov offered to take dos Anjos’ place, according to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole.
But the promotion rebuffed the offer, despite the fact that they are eager to find a replacement sooner rather than later.
Told that @TeamKhabib offered to replace @RdosAnjosMMA and @UFC said no. Going to update my post.
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) February 23, 2016
Nurmagomedov is scheduled to face Tony Ferguson at April’s UFC on Fox 19 event and hasn’t been seen in the octagon since he beat reigning champion dos Anjos in 2014.
He’s seen by many as the uncrowned champ due to his perfect record but a series of injuries have slowed his comeback.
Whether the UFC denied Nurmagomedov the fight due to the fact that they didn’t want to kill the Ferguson fight or whether they wanted to keep McGregor safe from the wrestling threat of ‘The Eagle’ is unknown but it’s looking like this fight is definitely NOT happening.
