Especially after recent events, one of the most highly anticipated fights in UFC right now is between Conor McGregor and the UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomendov. Whether or not it happens though is a different story.
Khabib defeated Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 earlier this month to win the undisputed lightweight title, has finished four of his ten fights in the promotion since he first fought under the UFC banner in January 2012.
McGregor, on the other hand, despite the fact he hasn't fought inside the Octagon since November 2016, he still has one of the best knockout ratios in MMA, as he has finished most of his opponents inside the first two rounds.
Notorious' coach, Owen Roddy, believes The Eagle's inability to finish fights could be a problem for him if he is to step inside the Octagon with McGregor.
While speaking on the BBC MMA show, via MMA News, Roddy said that Conor could put Khabib’s lights out within the first thirty seconds of the first round, or at the end of the fifth round, despite the fact the UFC Lightweight Champion has said he likes to drag his opponents into the late rounds.
Roddy said: “At the end of the day, Khabib hasn’t finished many fights lately. Now he always says he does that on purpose, but I don’t think so. If you’re going to go in and finish somebody, you go in and finish somebody.
"He says, ‘I like punish people for five rounds’, I always say, ‘If you’re going to give Conor McGregor five attempts to land a shot on you..’. So even if he went in and didn’t land the first round, or the second, or the third, or the fourth, he still has five attempts to land one shot. I’ve seen Conor McGregor go in and land within the first thirty seconds of the first round.”
We may never get to see this fight, depending on what happens in McGregor's legal proceedings due to his actions around UFC 223, as well what kind of punishment UFC will hand the Irishman for his actions.
When you add in the fact Khabib has said he doesn't want to fight against anyone until November or December later this year, and it looks like we won't get Nurmagomendov vs McGregor until 2019 at the very least.