A bout between the pair has been on the cards ever since the UFC brass snubbed Nurmagomedov for a lightweight title shot at UFC 205 and handed it to McGregor, who claimed the belt with a second-round TKO victory over Eddie Alvarez.
However, the eagerness to see the duo lock horns with one another reached new levels in April after the UFC 223 media day in Brooklyn, where McGregor attacked a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and his fellow fighters.
Since that unsavoury incident, Nurmagomedov has claimed the UFC brass are ‘working on’ his proposed bout with ‘The Notorious’, a notion which was dismissed earlier this month by the promotion’s president, Dana White.
“You know what, I’m not even thinking about Conor till – I’m serious,” White said during the UFC 226 post-fight press conference.
“I know they’re saying there are talks, but we’re not talking about a fight right now.
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“Conor has to get through July, he’s got to get through July. Whatever’s going to happen to him in July, we’ll figure that out.”
It has been reported that UFC chiefs are keen on having Nurmagomedov vs McGregor headline UFC 229 on October 6, the penultimate Las Vegas pay-per-view card of the year.
Nurmagomedov’s head coach Javier Mendez is in the dark over when the fight will take place but has revealed he was informed that the UFC initially wanted the bout to happen by October at the latest.
“I was told September or October. And then I was told they don’t know,” ‘The American Kickboxing Academy head coach told Express Sport.
“I’m at the ‘I don’t know’ stage. It’s like always.”
Nurmagomedov is keen to lock horns with McGregor by year’s end and has stated on multiple occasions that he wants to fight in October.
Although he doesn’t know when Nurmagomedov will get his hands on his predecessor at the summit of the lightweight title, Mendez is confident the biggest fight in the UFC history will happen before the turn of the year.
He added: ”It’s not going to surprise me if it happens in September, October, November or December.
“What will surprise me is if it happens next year. That would be a surprise. That I’m not expecting. “If he’s going to fight Conor, I’m expecting it this year.”
McGregor, 30, hasn’t set foot inside the Octagon since claiming the lightweight title 20 months ago in the main event of UFC 205, where he became the promotion’s first simultaneous two-weight world champion.
Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, hasn’t fought since succeeding McGregor at the summit of the lightweight division at UFC 223, where he defeated Al Iaquinta via unanimous decision.