UFC President Dana White recently revealed that McGregor and UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov could meet for a second time in they both win their upcoming bouts, which White says came about after Justin Gaethje allegedly turned down fights.
“C’mon guys, look what Conor’s done over the last however many years,” White told ESPN (via MMA Junkie). “Then he loses to Khabib (Nurmagomedov) in a fight that was – when you talk about bad blood – it’s like the next level of bad blood. Gaethje was on his way up, too. We’ve offered Gaethje a lot of fights that Gaethje hasn’t taken, either. So Conor’s in line next for (a title) fight if he beats ‘Cowboy.'”
Gaethje did take to Twitter to show his distaste for a potential McGregor/Nurmagomedov rematch, but didn’t specify on anything beyond that at this time.
White isn’t too focused on McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov II at the moment, as he would rather focus on UFC 246 first.
“We’re getting through this one first,” White said. “We’re getting through the ‘Cowboy’ fight, and the level of disrespect shown to ‘Cowboy’ through this whole thing, apparently everybody forgot. ‘Cowboy’ lost two in a row? ‘Cowboy’ has lost two in a row before and come back and gone on unbelievable runs. So let’s not count ‘Cowboy’ out.”
UFC 246 takes place on Saturday, January 18 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
