Conor McGregor Confirms Interest In Fighting Khabib In Russia

It wasn’t too long ago that UFC President Dana White claimed his lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, wanted to fight No. 1-ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov in his own backyard of Russia.

Now, it appears the Irishman is doubling down on those claims as he prepares to step into the boxing ring for the first time in his professional fighting career against, arguably, the greatest of all time in Floyd Mayweather. McGregor is expected to take on the 49-0 “Money” from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada next month (Sat. August 26, 2017) on Showtime pay-per-view (PPV).

During the Mayweather vs. McGregor World Tour, the heavy-handed Irishman was asked if the rumors about him wanting “The Eagle” in Russia were true, to which he confirmed they were (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“That’s certainly an option that I’m exploring. That would be a spectacle. It’d be like something out of Rocky. I suppose this whole story is like a Rocky story, right? So why not face a man in his home country, and a crazy place like Russia. It’s certainly something I’d like to do. There’s a couple of options on the table so let’s see what unfolds.”

There has been plenty of speculation that “The Notorious One” will walk away from the combat sports world after making the biggest payday of his life against Mayweather. McGregor silenced those rumors as well, claiming he won’t suffer a scratch in his fight against the undefeated legend and will take some time to brush up on his wrestling and jiu-jitsu before returning to the Octagon again:

“I believe so. I believe I’ll come out of this fight without a scratch. [Take] a couple weeks to refresh my jiu-jitsu and my wrestling – not that I’ve stopped training that either, I’ve still kept up on that, just less – and then we’ll see what happens.”