Make no mistake: Conor McGregor is the center of the MMA world. Always.
That said, despite combat sports’ top draw returning to the octagon Saturday against Dustin Poirier to headline UFC 257 from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov floats above this fight.
There’s no title on the line in McGregor-Poirier II, a rematch of their 2014 featherweight bout that the Irishman won by TKO inside of two minutes. There’s not even any official word as to what the stakes are in the context of the 155-pound weight class.
The closest thing to a prize up for grabs is the chance that maybe, according to UFC president Dana White, the unbeaten Nurmagomedov will go back on his stated desire to step away from competition in the wake of his father Abdulmanap’s death and backslide on the promise made to his bereaved mother.
“If these guys could do something special, Khabib will fight them,” White told viewers during last Saturday’s “UFC Fight Night” event on ABC, the culmination of a hyped announcement stemming from a well-promoted conversation between the two earlier in the week.
But the words directly from “The Eagle” fly in the face of White’s generic tease. An interview in Nurmagomedov’s native Russian with Sport24 tells a different story.
“My mother is the most precious thing I have left,” Nurmagomedov said in translated English subtitles in the video interview, posted Wednesday. “You won’t push me to do things that will disappoint my mother. I don’t even have plans for UFC in the near future.
“I don’t even have any thoughts about preparing for a fight. I saw how Umar [Nurmagomedov, a cousin who competed Wednesday at Fight Island] was preparing now and I thought, Alhamdulillah (praise be to God) I left it behind.”
But the championship belt remains around the waist of Nurmagomedov, an unusual move by a promotion that has had no issue vacating titles from retired fighters or creating interim belts for stalled divisions.
McGregor (22-4, 20 finishes), who has announced brief retirements several times over the past five years, has made no secret of his desire for a second chance against Nurmagomedov, whom submitted him in the fourth round of their record-setting pay-per-view title fight in October 2018 that was immediately followed by a melee involving the fighters and their cornermen. At Thursday’s pre-fight press conference in Abu Dhabi, however, the Irishman said he won’t doggedly pursue the rematch anymore.
“Things have gone on in his personal life. I don’t wish him any harm,” McGregor said. “[The fight] was in 2018. A lot of time has passed. The world knows this fight is not over. This war is not over. This sport needs it to happen. The people need it to happen. I’m not going to chase him. That’s it. I’ll keep my calm and move on.”
But one thing McGregor loves is gold, and he won’t abide Nurmagomedov holding up a lightweight division with so many top contenders, himself included.
“I would make the case, if that man is continuing to dodge this and dodge the commitment of competing again, the title should be stripped, and we should be engaging in a title fight,” said McGregor, who held onto his lightweight championship without defending it for 17 months before it was vacated. “I’m sure it will happen after this bout [against Poirier]. I’m interested to hear the excuses or what will be said after the fight, but I predict a title strip.”
Beyond McGregor and Poirier (26-6, 19 finishes), both age 32, the list of contender for a potential vacant title includes Charles Oliveira, who earned a dominant decision over Tony Ferguson in December; Justin Gaethje, the most recent interim champion whom Nurmagomedov submitted in what may have been the champ’s final bout in October; and Michael Chandler and Dan Hooker, who will face off in the co-main event Saturday.
“I think that’s one of the beauties of the UFC lightweight division, which is the most exciting division on the planet right now: We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Chandler, who will make his UFC debut after a standout 10-year run with Bellator, told The Post on Wednesday.
“We don’t know what Khabib’s gonna do. We don’t know, is Conor for real? Has he really come back motivated, and can he beat Dustin Poirier? … As fighters, you got to embrace the uncertainty and put your best foot forward. And the best way to do that is go out there and have great performances, and the rest of the stuff will hopefully take care of itself.”