Khabib Nurmagomedov Promises To ‘Destroy’ Conor McGregor

UFC President Dana White has repeatedly said that a bout between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former two-division champion Conor McGregor is the fight to make.

The timetable for such a fight depends largely on McGregor, who hasn’t competed in the Octagon since November 2016, and his legal issues stemming from an incident that took place at the Barclays Center this past April.

Regardless, ‘The Eagle’ recently said that he expects his next fight to take place in Las Vegas and he once again confirmed his interest in defending his newly acquired title against the ‘Notorious’ one:

“I do not yet know who my opponent will be,” Nurmagomedov told sport24.ru (via Bloody Elbow). “The fight will likely take place in Las Vegas. I want to fight McGregor; the fans are also waiting for this fight. I hope that Conor wants this fight. He talked a lot but for some reason, as soon as it came down to real negotiations about the fight, he fell silent.”

Nurmagomedov, one of the sport’s most relentless grapplers, sports an incredibly impressive 26-0 professional record and is coming off of a unanimous decision victory over late replacement Al Iaquinta. McGregor, meanwhile, is coming off of a dominant victory over Eddie Alvarez followed by a TKO defeat to Floyd Mayweather in a highly publicized boxing match that took place last August.

Stylistically, the potential bout is a highly intriguing one and many have had differing opinions on how it would play out.

Nurmagomedov, however, is fairly certain that he would ‘destroy’ the brash Irishman:

“In what round will I be able to knock McGregor out? I do not know, and no one can know this. I’m going to destroy him.”