Khabib's agent says McGregor should accept the fight because he 'needs money'

The fight between K. Nurmagomedov (photo) and C. McGregor should not be at UFC 230 in New York on November 03 due to problems with justice. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @khabibnurmagomedov

Rumors about the clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov e Conor McGregor have intensified in recent days. In an interview with the website “TMZ”, the Russian's manager, Ali Abdelaziz said that the Irishman's main motivation for accepting the fight is money. Even with the multimillion-dollar purse received from his boxing fight against Floyd Mayweather in 2017, the former UFC champion would be “money short”.

“The last time I spoke to Dana (White, UFC president), he said this is the fight he wants to make. This is the biggest fight in UFC history, it's the one that will make the most money. Conor is running out of money, which is why he agreed to face Khabib. Alright, let's help him earn some money. But at the end of the day, we owe him a beating. He needs to take a beating from Khabib,” explained Abdelaziz.

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The clash generated even more interest following the April incident in New York when McGregor attacked a bus carrying UFC 223 fighters, including Nurmagomedov. The Russian would dispute the lightweight belt that belonged to the Irishman. “Notorius” seeks an agreement with the courts and returns to court on July 26th.

Nurmagomedov has already expressed his desire for his first title defense to be against the former UFC middleweight champion, Georges St Pierre. Even so, the rivalry and the fans' interest is that McGregor is the challenger and this motivates the Russian to accept the challenge.

“There is nothing Khabib would like to do more than beat up Conor for five rounds inside the cage. He doesn't like the guy, we don't like him or his team, we don't like what he represents. I like some of the things he does, to be honest, (but) he thinks he's a gangster, I think he's not. But when you think he's a gangster, he's going to be treated like one, and gangsters end up either in jail or getting beaten up,” concluded Khabib's manager.

Ali Abdelaziz assured that there are three possible dates for the confrontation: UFC 229, October 6th in Las Vegas; UFC 230, November 3 in New York; or the traditional end-of-year event, UFC 232, on December 30, also in Las Vegas. The businessman believes the fight will not take place in New York after McGregor's problems with the law.