Khabib Nurmagomedov ready to settle bus altercation with Conor McGregor in a UFC cage
Now that Conor McGregor has left court in Brooklyn, N.Y., with a plea bargain that spares him from jail time, Khabib Nurmagomedov is itching for the deal-making to begin for their anticipated UFC showdown.
âEveryoneâs talking about Conor not [yet] having a deal,â for a fall fight. âKhabib doesnât have a deal, either,â Nurmagomedovâs manager, Ali Abdelaziz, told The Times on Thursday. âKhabibâs the champ, and weâre easy to deal with it, but nobody has officially offered us a fight.â
Irelandâs McGregor, a former two-division UFC champion who earned a reported $100 million for suffering a 10th-round technical-knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year, fastened the building rivalry with Russiaâs Nurmagomedov in April.
With Nurmagomedov (26-0) in Brooklyn for the pre-fight news conference before he officially claimed the lightweight belt stripped from McGregor for taking an extended layoff from UFC action, McGregor led a band of associates to a tour bus carrying Nurmagomedov and several other UFC fighters.
With cameras documenting the attack, McGregor flung a hand truck at a bus window and the flying glass caused injuries that forced flyweight Ray Borg and Michael Chiesa off the card.
Both now have the opportunity to sue McGregor for damages in civil court following the New York prosecutorsâ decision to reduce two felony criminal mischief charges against McGregor to disorderly conduct violations that require community service while allowing McGregor to escape a lifetime criminal record with no restrictions on his ability to travel to the U.S.
McGregorâs Orange County-based agent, Audie Attar, said Thursday he expects to have information soon on McGregor.
Abdelaziz said heâs been told by the UFC, âHave Khabib ready for Oct. 6,â the UFC 229 card at Las Vegasâ T-Mobile Arena.
âEverybodyâs assuming Khabib already has [an agreement] done. He doesnât. Weâre willing to fight. We want the fight. Itâs a big fight.â
With McGregorâs case now adjudicated, Abdelaziz said the hand-truck attack heightened the rivalry with Nurmagomedov to âa blood thing.â
âItâs not only a cage fight now. Itâs a street fight. Itâs about whoâs going to defend his turf,â Abdelaziz said. âKhabib is saying, âYou come at me, insult me and try to trap my team with 30-40 people and there was three of us. So now itâs personal.â
âBefore, it was about promoting a fight, about making money. Itâs not about this at all anymore. Itâs about kicking somebodyâs [rear] for disrespecting you.â
Abdelaziz said Nurmagomedov originally laughed when McGregor attacked.
âThis is fake,â Nurmagomedov told Abdelaziz. âIf somebody wanted to come after me, why didnât he come at me before I got on the bus, or wait for me to get off the bus? He waits for me while Iâm on the bus, with a whole bunch of cameras and security.â
Nurmagomedov told Abdelaziz he wouldâve settled his differences with McGregor, alone under the Brooklyn Bridge.
âKhabib meant it,â Abdelaziz said. âEverything Conor does he does for a stunt, for media, for all that.â
Part of the hype toward McGregor-Nurmagomedov will be the Russianâs push to proclaim the act is over.
âToday, I told people Conor wouldâve been safer in jail,â Abdelaziz said. âIâm not joking.
â[McGregor] didnât have gangsters,â with him during the bus attack. âHe had posers. They had a camera guy. Who comes to commit a crime with a camera guy? When you want to beat somebodyâs [rear], do it on the downlow. No evidence. No witnesses.
âThereâs no more act. Letâs fight and move on. I got a king on the stone. Khabib is the king, the one with the belt, and heâs on top of the mountain. Everybody else doesnât matter.â
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