Conor McGregor is no stranger to a bit of trash-talking and he has ramped up his return to the UFC by calling Khabib Nurmagomedov a ‘little scurrying rat’ on his Instagram page. The Irishman is returning the cage in January 2020 for the first time in over a year, since he was submitted by Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.
The 31-year-old will return against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone on January 18th but is already looking past that fight, should he get a win on his UFC return. Dana White has already hinted that a rematch could happen further down the line but this will only happen if both fighters win their scheduled bouts.
“If Conor can get through Cowboy, and if Khabib can get through Tony Ferguson, then we’ll be looking at a rematch with Conor and Khabib down the line, pretty soon,” he told BT Sport. However, the undefeated Khabib is less than convinced about his future plans following his scheduled match-up with Ferguson.
“Well, we don’t have a plan for when we’re going to finish but I do know it is not over the mountains, as they say,” he told RT Sports.
“That time is very close. I don’t want to think about the future, I still have to live to April, I still have to fight, I need to win. So, I don’t like to look too far ahead.”
The Eagle has also hinted at potentially calling it a day after that much-anticipated Ferguson bout:
“We’ll consider whether there’s any point in fighting any more. There will always be a reason to fight, money. But will we need it? We’ll think about it.”
For McGregor, all eyes must be on a dangerous and experienced opponent in Cerrone, who has a two-inch height advantage over The Notorious and has fought in twice as many MMA fights that his opponent. He may be nearing the end of his career at the age of 36, but McGregor’s dream return to the UFC could well turn into a nightmare if he takes his opponent for granted.
Once Cerrone has been dealt with, then he can move onto targeting that elusive rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
