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28th July 2018
10:35am BST
The UFC lightweight champion was in Alberta for UFC Calgary and spoke very well during a 30-minute Q&A with local fight fans.
McGregor's path back to the UFC - he has not fought since November 2016 - was made clear just 24 hours previous when he avoided jail time for his role in an attack on a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and several fighters at the Barclay Center loading bay, in April.
Audie Attar, McGregor's manager, stated that 'The Notorious' was looking to get back into the Octagon before the year is out.
Nurmagomedov would like to defend his belt, won at UFC 223, at Madison Square Garden in November. The promotion would prefer to keep a closer eye on events so Las Vegas, on October 6 or December 29, are the two working options.
"After tomorrow, I am ready [to fight]," Nurmagomedov declared.
"When the cage door closes I believe this will happen… If 25 minutes we can call jail, I think for him it’s going to be jail. For you guys it’s going to be enjoyment."Asked about that bus attack incident, prior to his title win at UFC 223, Nurmagomedov asked why the Dubliner needed an entourage of '30 people with cameras' if he really wanted to settle their differences. UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was quick to slag the Dagestani's beefed up security detail [see below] but Nurmagomedov insisted that decision was the UFC's. https://youtu.be/3pQgn51pbvM The 155lbs champion explained:
"I don’t understand this. Yesterday UFC called me - ‘We need you. We need to talk with you.’ They said, 'We have to give you a couple security guys.’ "This guy [McGregor] put tweet then he deleted. He put tweet, ‘Cavalry, let’s go to Canada.’ Why you need cavalry? Just send me location."Nurmagomedov offered his prediction for the UFC Calgary main event, calling Dustin Poirier over former champion Eddie Alvarez, and he told Tony Ferguson he would need to fight again before he would be considered for a title shot.
His final answer of the session was perhaps his most ominous. Asked what he would do if he could not take McGregor down, Nurmagomedov replied:
"It's impossible brother. "Really, I think it's impossible. If I try to take him down one time and he defends, very good [but] I'm going to try do this 100 times. So what's he going to do? "He don’t have conditioning. He don’t have wrestling. He don't have grappling. When he's tired, he don't have heart. Look what happened [in previous fights]. "He have one very good left hand. I agree with this. He has very good left hand. "I’m going to cut this angle and try to take him down 100 times. It's going to be a different fight. Peope think, 'Okay, if Khabib fight like I did against Al Iaquinta, okay he can beat me. But look at my 10 (UFC) fights. It's all different... We will see. We will see."For a lad that Nurmagomedov believes has no conditioning, wrestling, grappling or heart, McGregor has done pretty well for himself.
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