Following a stunning second round knockout over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, Conor McGregor already had a long list of opponents asking to fight him.
Perhaps the fighter most deserving in the lightweight division is undefeated Russian fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, who upped his record to a perfect 24-0 after a submission victory over fellow top 10 fighter Michel Johnson on Saturday night.
After getting the win, Nurmagomedov wasted no time turning his attention to McGregor, who he had a backstage altercation with before the official weigh-ins on Friday before the event took place.
“Your guy, beginning of the year, he tapped like a chicken, end of the year he fights for the title. Crazy,” Nurmagomedov shouted to the pro-Irish crowd in New York. “This is true. This is not trash talking.
“Irish only 6 million. Russian, 150 million. I want to fight with your chicken.”
McGregor addressed the call out after his fight with Alvarez on Saturday night and from the sound of things he’s not all that interested in facing Nurmagomedov next.
According to the new lightweight champion, it has nothing to do with Nurmagomedov as a competitor, but more the injuries that kept him sidelined for the better part of two years.
McGregor has dealt with plenty of opponent changes in the past and the threat of Nurmagomedov pulling out of a fight on short notice just doesn’t appeal to him very much.
“It was a good performance. He was talking as well. Look he’s fought once in eight years,” McGregor said about Nurmagomedov. “He ain’t fighting too frequent for my liking. For me to commit to something like that, I 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. We’ll see where it goes. I need to see active. I need to see activity consistency. I need to see me. If you want me to come and change your life, you want me to come pick you, you better have some damn reasons for me to do that. We’ll see how that goes.”
Right now, McGregor isn’t picking a fight with anybody other than the UFC.
McGregor said on Saturday night that he’s looking for an ownership stake in the promotion or some kind of equity in the UFC before he’s going to step into the Octagon again.
So whether it’s Nurmagomedov or any other fighter on the UFC roster looking for a shot at him, it’s up to the UFC to cater to McGregor’s demands before he’s accepting any of them.
“I’ve got a million other hurdles before I even consider any of this,” McGregor said. “Whoever runs this whole (expletive) now’s got to come to me and give me the real slice cause that’s what I’ve earned. I’ve earned this.”