Conor McGregor Receives Offer to Avenge Khabib Nurmagomedov Loss in Most Unexpected Way

Conor McGregor stepped into the cage with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, and the result was chaos. A neck crank in the fourth round ended the fight, but it didn’t stop the rivalry. What followed was a brawl that spilled outside the Octagon and into history. Years later, McGregor has yet to get his rematch.

‘The Eagle’ retired undefeated, leaving unfinished business on the table. But what if revenge could come in another way, through someone else’s fight? That’s exactly what rising Brazilian star Mauricio Ruffy has in mind!

The 29-year-old has been drawing endless comparisons to a young McGregor for his fighting style, and he has now thrown a curveball. Speaking to Full Send MMA, he was asked if his previous offer for the Irishman to join the Fighting Nerds corner still stands. He responded by giving credit to the man by stating, “Conor has really inspired my style, the Ruffy-style a lot. There’s a lot of things in there that I added, emulating him or inspired by him. So, you know, I did make that invitation that if I were to fight Islam, I’d have him in my corner.”

It’s a fascinating scenario. McGregor never got his second shot at Khabib Nurmagomedov, but through Ruffy, he could get close. The Brazilian knockout artist even argued McGregor wasn’t himself that night in 2018. With proper focus, he believes McGregor could have beaten ‘The Eagle’. Now, he wants to give ‘The Notorious’ the satisfaction of being part of his own mission against the Dagestani legend’s protégé.

As such, he continued by stating in the recent interview, “But you know, maybe if he was in my corner, if I were to fight Islam, he’d get a little taste of that rematch that he asked for and never got.”

This isn’t the first time Ruffy has made the offer. As mentioned above, earlier this year, he’d confessed to MMA Junkie, “When I’m ready to fight Islam Makhachev, when I go to fight him, I want to invite Conor McGregor to be in my corner so it’s us against the Russians.” But here’s the twist.

Islam Makhachev has already moved up to welterweight and is chasing gold at UFC 322 against Jack Della Maddalena. If he stays at 170, Ruffy, who is currently fighting at lightweight, may never get his wish. Will he follow Makhachev up in weight? Or will McGregor’s invitation remain just a dream scenario? Only time will tell. However, there’s another big name in the UFC that’s recently opened up about wanting a ‘superfight’ with the former ‘champ-champ’!

Conor McGregor in Alexander Volkanovski’s crosshairs as ‘The Great’ lays out his reasons for a ‘superfight’

Alexander Volkanovski has never been one to tread lightly. Fresh off reclaiming his featherweight crown against Diego Lopes, the Aussie champion is already scanning the horizon for what’s next. And his eyes, surprisingly, have landed on one of the sport’s biggest names, Conor McGregor.

Speaking on The Unscripted Show, Volkanovski admitted, “Probably Conor, man (I would pick to fight), a lot of people are gonna sit there and be like, ‘Oh yeah Conor is a boring answer’ but he was in the featherweight division, that era when he was just an absolute superstar.”

For ‘The Great’, this isn’t just about nostalgia. It’s about opportunity. He explained that stepping in with McGregor remains one of the fastest ways to elevate a fighter’s brand, as he further shared, “The platform you’re on, you need to take advantage of it, and that’s one fast track to getting people to notice you.”

Volk also gave McGregor his flowers, reflecting on the Irishman’s prime. He described him as sharp, ahead of his time, and a fighter with “great timing, great set-ups, good understanding of what works.” According to Volkanovski, Conor McGregor’s striking precision and ability to dictate distance made him special, attributes that often get overlooked today.

But he didn’t sugarcoat the present either. “A lot of that is gone now,” he admitted. While he believes McGregor could still be “reasonably sharp,” he doesn’t see him ever returning to the form that electrified the featherweight division nearly a decade ago.

So where does that leave us? Between Mauricio Ruffy’s corner invitation and Alexander Volkanovski’s call for a superfight, McGregor suddenly finds himself with more doors open than ever, just not the one that leads back to Khabib Nurmagomedov. The rivalry that defined UFC 229 may never see round two, but echoes of it linger in every challenge and every offer.