Conor McGregor Coach Predicts UFC Return, Grudge Match with Khabib Nurmagomedov
The hottest rivalry in MMA right now is the one between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. The two UFC lightweights have had a serious beef for years, and things got turned up a few more notches earlier this month. McGregor crashed a UFC press event and hurled a hand truck through the window of a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and some of his entourage.
It was an ugly moment, but the good news? All signs point to an epic showdown between the two, with the latest hint coming from McGregor's boxing coach, Owen Roddy.
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"Khabib, he's nice. He's doing very well fighting-wise," he told The BBC MMA Show (h/t MMAjunkie.com for the transcription). "I see holes in his game. But he's building a big ruckus, and he's calling [McGregor] out now, and people are getting behind it. It's starting to build. And once it gets to that tipping point, I'm sure we'll see that fight."
McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov has long stood as one of the most intriguing dream matchups in MMA. The perfect "striker vs. grappler" bout, it would pit McGregor's lethal left hand against Nurmagomedov's ground-and-pound in a contest that could end at any time, in any way.
The two men have been on parallel paths in recent years. Nurmagomedov has constantly struggled with weight-cutting and injury issues, and McGregor took a prolonged layoff due to his 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., but they might just be on a collision course now.
Granted, there are hurdles aplenty when it comes to this fight. McGregor faces multiple charges due to the bus attack and is still in the middle of negotiating a new contract with the UFC.
It is anyone's guess as to when McGregor could return to the Octagon, and the X-factor of Mayweather potentially making the jump to the cage looms large. Still, odds are that MMA fans are looking at the greatest grudge match in MMA history.
How does Roddy believe it will go?
"Khabib, he hasn't finished many fights lately. Now, he always says that he does that on purpose, but I don't think so," he said. "I always say...he has five attempts to land one shot. I've seen Conor go in and land in the first 30 seconds of the first round...He's so good at giving people shots that they think they can land and then setting up everything off that. I just see him landing. And not many people can take it. I don't know if Khabib can take it, either."
Both men have a lot on their plates through the end of spring, with McGregor set to appear in court on June 14 and Nurmagomedov's training soon to take a hit due to his observance of Ramadan (which runs from May 15 to June 14). The UFC, meanwhile, has its pay-per-view schedule filled through July's UFC 226.
If the bout comes to fruition, a date in the fall makes the most sense for all involved parties. That makes the UFC's November 10 date at Madison Square Garden one to keep an eye on.
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