Conor McGregor has ambitious plans for 2020 and a big part of his agenda for the year will revolve around the demise of one of the most anticipated fights of the year.
As he prepares to face Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone this weekend at UFC 246, McGregor has already stated that he wants to stay busy with a much more active schedule than he’s had in recent years.
If he’s successful in his first fight back in 15 months, UFC president Dana White says that the Irish superstar isn’t thinking about a showdown with “BMF” champion Jorge Masvidal but rather he’s banking on the upcoming fight between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson falling apart.
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson are scheduled to clash on April 18 in the UFC 249 main event but obviously McGregor isn’t convinced both fighters will make it to the Octagon.
“Here’s the thing — realistically, Conor believes that Khabib [Nurmagomedov] vs. Tony Ferguson will not happen,” White told TMZ Sports ahead of UFC 246. “We’ve tried to do this fight many, many times. Conor believes it won’t happen. Conor wanted to do this fight at 170 because he wants to turn right around and jump right in and fight Khabib if that fight doesn’t happen.
“We’ll see how this plays out. We’ll see what happens after this. Conor is very focused on that rematch with Khabib.”
Considering Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have been scheduled four times in the past and yet the fight has never happened, McGregor seems to be playing the odds that he’ll be on call as a late replacement for the fight.
The last time the matchup was scheduled Ferguson suffered a freak knee injury while doing television interviews promoting the fight and he was pulled with just days remaining until the event.
Weight cutting problems and injuries have sealed the fate on the other three previous attempts to book Nurmagomedov against Ferguson.
McGregor has spoken openly about wanting to avenge his loss to Nurmagomedov after he was submitted by the undefeated Russian back in 2018. If the fight with Ferguson is truly cursed, McGregor seems poised and ready to get through Cerrone on Saturday night and then pounce on the fight with Nurmagomedov in April.
