{"id":274957,"date":"2018-04-21T10:07:17","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T17:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=274957"},"modified":"2018-04-21T13:33:02","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T20:33:02","slug":"khabib-nurmagomedov-ready-to-defend-his-belt-is-conor-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc-223\/khabib-nurmagomedov-ready-to-defend-his-belt-is-conor-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Khabib Nurmagomedov ready to defend his belt – Is Conor ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The date was September 21st 2016 and the infamous two word Tweet “Beg me” rang out in the MMA community like two warning shots out of a 12 gauge shotgun.\u00a0 Conor McGregor was on top of the mixed martial arts world and was seeking a second UFC title, this time in the promotions lightweight division. “Mystic Mac” would ultimately score a second-round knockout over then 155-pound champ Eddie Alvarez to become the first UFC fighter to hold two belts simultaneously.\u00a0 “The Notorious” would go on to relinquish his featherweight title late November 2016.<\/p>\n

Flash forward to the present and McGregor is in a much different position than he once was.\u00a0 He recently was stripped of his lightweight title earlier this month<\/a>.\u00a0 Once Khabib was able to make weight for his UFC 223 appearance against last minute replacement Al Iaquinta the belt was stripped and a series of events took place that may have created issues for a fight with “The Eagle” before this year is through.<\/p>\n

\"Conor<\/p>\n

The new champ, Khabib, told fans at a recent Q&A (h\/t Jim Edwards of MMANytt<\/a>) that he isn\u2019t willing to wait until next year to fight \u2018The Notorious\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking, but if it takes too long, I don\u2019t want to do that,\u201d<\/em> Nurmagomedov said. \u201cIf he wants to fight this year, then we can fight. Otherwise, I don\u2019t know. We won\u2019t wait long. I want to fight Conor and if he can fight, I will fight him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

With so many unfortunate injuries that have plagued Nurmagomedov through the years it only makes sense why a (healthy Khabib) wants to stay busy and defend his belt.\u00a0 \u00a0As for McGregor, his legal problems stemming from the Barclays Center bus incident now involve fighters Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg who were injured in the attack and may now play a factor in Conor’s return<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Will Khabib defend his title against “The Notorious” one?\u00a0 Or will “The Eagle” land former interim champion Tony Ferguson or surging contender Dustin Poirier before the year is through?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The date was September 21st 2016 and the infamous two word Tweet “Beg me” rang out in the MMA community like two warning shots out of a 12 gauge shotgun.\u00a0 Conor McGregor was on top of the mixed martial arts world and was seeking a second UFC title, this time in the promotions lightweight division. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54456,"featured_media":274112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10089,10114,39453],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKhabib Nurmagomedov ready to defend his belt - Is Conor ready? | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Khabib Nurmagomedov ready to defend his belt, but is former division title holder Conor McGregor ready to come back to the octagon?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc-223\/khabib-nurmagomedov-ready-to-defend-his-belt-is-conor-ready\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Khabib Nurmagomedov ready to defend his belt - Is Conor ready? 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