Conor McGregor Willing To Fight Pettis Or Ferguson ‘If Khabib Bottles It Again’
Conor McGregor returns to the UFC Octagon this Saturday and he says it will happen regardless of whether Khabib Nurmagomedov is standing on the opposite side of the cage from him.
The Irishman hasn’t fought in the UFC Octagon since UFC 205 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title. According to the Irishman, he has since tried to return to the Octagon twice since then against Frankie Edgar and Rafael dos Anjos, but with the UFC deciding not to pull the trigger on both occasions, McGregor’s return has taken a long time to materialise.
Speaking with TheMacLife.com this weekend, McGregor spoke about his frustrations of being made to wait on the sidelines.
“Sometimes I’m a little confused Andrew; what the f*** do they want? Do they want me here to fight? Or do they want a comedy world special? That was the situation with this press conference. They wanted the world tours, but I was like I’m a bit confused by what you’re asking here. One minute it’s like there’s too much talk and there’s not enough action and there’s not enough fighting. Then when it’s fighting there’s not enough talk.
“Look, with all due respect to everyone, f*** everyone. I’m just here for my own-self. This is just something that I’m itching to get in there and just do what I do best.”
With Anthony Pettis vs Tony Ferguson occupying the co-main event, it would make sense that either of those two men fill in as a replacement should either of the two main event fighters not make it to fight night. McGregor said he was originally not interested in fighting either Pettis or Ferguson, but with fight night now just around the corner, he now says he’s willing to take on either man.
“I’ve already been mapping out what I would want to do next,” McGregor said. “I know that Pettis and Ferguson are in the co-main and originally, about a month or two ago, in preparation for this and when this fight got announced, I was like, if Khabib bottles this fight, like he’s bottled many, many fights before, if he bottles this one I don’t think I would even think about [fighting them], no disrespect to those two, but I don’t give a f*** about those other two.
“I think I would’ve just stepped back into the shadows and got that man somewhere else outside of here. Now that I’m here and I’m back, I think if he didn’t show up then I would take a fight against either one of those, but I’m already mapping out what’s next.”
What McGregor does next will no doubt be a hot topic come Sunday. Without giving any clues away, the Irishman said he’d been thinking about it already and he went on to lay the seeds for several potential future opponents.
“Dustin and Nate are competing, I know that the 170-pounds belt has also just been defended and I know Tyron is itching for that fight, like they all f***ing are. Georges [St-Pierre] is test cutting 155 and I know everyone is around looking for it. I’m here, I’m ready so lets see what happens. I’ve got my eye on everyone.”
Watch the full interview:
