Just when talks on a possible fight between Conor McGregor and Justin Gaethje gained momentum, Former UFC Fighter and Conor’s teammate, Artem Lobov, dismissed all speculation. He believes that Conor should fight for the title next.

Conor McGregor tried to capture the lightweight title for the second time in October 2018. However, the champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, smashed and stopped Conor in the fourth round via submission. Since then, Conor has been rallying for a rematch.

Fans and pundits have argued that Conor was not mentally and physically prepared when he fought Khabib. They claimed that Conor deserved an immediate rematch. However, the champion was not interested, as he wanted Conor to win a couple matches before challenging for the title again. Last January, Conor fought for the first time since 2018.

‘The Notorious‘ took on Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in a welterweight showdown. Conor finished Cerrone just 40 seconds into the first round. Immediately, there were assumptions over Conor’s next opponent. Since the Irishman has shown interest in fighting for the lightweight title again, many believe that Conor should fight #4 lightweight—Justin Gaethje—before facing Khabib.

Artem Lobov gives his opinion on Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor

While many people believe Gaethje to be the next challenger for Conor, his teammate and close friend, Artem Lobov—the catalyst for Conor’s rivalry with Khabib—thinks otherwise.

“To be honest, I just want to see Conor fight the winner of Tony and Khabib, which makes more sense than Gaethje. There is always going to be someone talking. But, when you are in the position of Conor and what he has done, you don’t need to prove anything,” Lobov told BJPENN.com.

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Lobov then referenced Conor’s victory over Cerrone and claimed that the former made a powerful statement by defeating ‘Cowboy’. He also cited round three from Conor versus Khabib- the only round that Khabib lost in his career. The ‘Russian Hammer’ stated that Conor made necessary adjustments in the second Nate Diaz fight. Similarly, he will better his fighting style against Khabib.

“It won’t be an easy fight but it will be a win for him. Look at round three, Khabib wasn’t able to score any takedowns.”

Although Lobov makes a compelling argument for Conor vs Khabib 2, does Conor deserve a title shot next? Conor might have destroyed Cerrone, but it was at welterweight and not lightweight. Also, age was not on Cerrone’s side. Therefore, it was not a fair matchup. Conor did put up an impressive performance in his second fight against Diaz, but there’s a stylistic difference between Diaz and Khabib.

Diaz is not a wrestler, whereas Khabib is arguably the best MMA wrestler in the UFC. And history has shown that Conor does not perform well against wrestlers.