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What's the story?
UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov hardly wasted any time in throwing down the gauntlet once Conor McGregor worked out plea deal with the court that leaves the Irishman free to resume his fighting career again.
Khabib, who won the Title at UFC 223 against late notice replacement Al Iaquinta, has been long earmarked as the fight to make against Conor McGregor. And his call out of the Irishman has only added fuel to that fire.
In case you didn't know...
Conor McGregor faced three felony counts and one misdemeanour count after his dolly attack on the UFC fighter bus at UFC 223. However, he plead guilty to one count of disorderly conduct (which is a misdemeanour) and was sentenced to 5 days of community service, 3 days of anger management evaluation and faces three protective orders against him.
However, the incident will not register as a criminal record against his name and thereby, will not prevent him from fighting in the USA or even in the state of New York in the future.
The heart of the matter
Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has been for all intents and purposes waiting on Conor McGregor's legal issues to clear out, wasted little time in signifying his intentions in fighting him at Madison Square Garden at UFC 230.
However, according to ESPN's Ariel Helwani, the inside word from the UFC is that their first preference for the fight is on the UFC 229 card on October 6 in Las Vegas, followed by the year end card on December 29th and only then, the MSG card as the last priority.
What's next?
Khabib calling McGregor out is all well and good, but the Irishman's team need to conclude negotiations with the UFC first in order for a fight to be booked.
McGregor's manager Audie Attar, however, did mention that both parties were pretty close to coming to an agreement.
Fight fans, time to strap in!
