Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t even two weeks removed from his dominant victory over Conor McGregor at UFC 229 but speculation about his next fight began almost as soon as he stepped out of the Octagon (or jumped out of the Octagon as it was that night).
Because Nurmagomedov’s fight against McGregor reportedly broke every UFC record with more than 2.4 million pay-per-view sales, it’s understandable why a rematch would be marketable.
Everybody involved stands to make a boat load of money and it would give McGregor the opportunity to avenge his loss to Nurmagomedov after fighting for the first time in nearly two years.
Still, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan doesn’t really see the need for an immediate rematch, especially considering how Nurmagomedov performed against McGregor the first time around.
“There’s all this talk about a Conor rematch cause financially that would be a fantastic fight, right?” Rogan said on his podcast on Monday. “Financially. But when you look at what happened, that was a dominant victory. There was one round where Conor did pretty good, the third round. Other than that, Khabib just sort of dominated him.
“Dropped him in the second, beat the f–king s–t out of him in the fourth and the third was the round where Conor did pretty good cause most of was standing up. But it wasn’t like he won it running away. It wasn’t like he blasted him in the body and had him hurt. There was nothing like that. He edged him.”
“There was one round where Conor did pretty good, the third round. Other than that, Khabib just sort of dominated him” ~ Joe Rogan
While money would probably be the biggest determining factor in McGregor getting an immediate rematch against Nurmagomedov, Rogan says that the former two division champion’s ability to bounce back from a previous defeat would also play into that narrative.
When McGregor was submitted by Nate Diaz back in 2016, he was given an immediate rematch and managed to pull off a majority decision win in the rematch five months later.
That same story could be used to sell McGregor getting a second shot at the undefeated Russian but Rogan much prefers a different fight that might really challenge Nurmagomedov for his title.
“I guess you could say that’s sort of what happened in the Nate Diaz fight and Conor came back and won the rematch. This is the argument,” Rogan said. “Conor was rusty, he’s out of the cage for two years, he gets back in, let’s do [a rematch] and then financially I mean Jesus Christ, it was the biggest fight of all time. They’re saying it was above 2.4 million pay-per-view buys, which is f–king bananas. So that’s huge. If they could talk people into a rematch, I get it.
“But I don’t want to see that. I want to see Tony [Ferguson]. I want to see Tony and Khabib.”
Ferguson was victorious on the same night that Nurmagomedov mauled McGregor and on paper he should be the next contender in line.
Ferguson was the interim lightweight champion before he was stripped of the title due to an injury that prevented him from facing Nurmagomedov back in April. Now with his latest win over former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at UFC 229, Ferguson appears the be the most logical contender to face Nurmagomedov next.
Now it’s just up to the UFC to decide what actually happens when Nurmagomedov defends his title again.
Who would you rather see Khabib Nurmagomedov face next — Conor McGregor or Tony Ferguson? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
