Khabib Orders Boss: Tell Conor the Game Has Changed

This weekend will be a pivotal one in determining Conor McGregor’s UFC future, and The Eagle is watching.

Due to the UFC bus attack McGregor orchestrated in April that culminated with the Irishman throwing a dolly threw a bus window, McGregor’s already immobile UFC career has now been entangled in legal issues, given the felony charge for criminal mischief and a misdemeanor for assault. Wednesday, Dana White told ESPN that he plans on meeting with Conor McGregor this weekend in Liverpool to discuss the future:

“Obviously he has to deal with that in June,” White told ESPN’s “SportsCenter” when referencing McGregor’s upcoming hearing in New York. “I’m flying to Liverpool this weekend for a fight there, and he and I are going to meet in Liverpool.

“We’re going to sit down and talk about his future and what’s next. But obviously I have nothing to do with the legal issues. He has to figure that out on his own.”

Saturday morning, the undisputed lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, decided to give directions to his boss on how to proceed during this meeting via an Instagram post:

The post reads: “When you see him, tell him: Conor the game has changed, now you have to play like a grown up man, there will no longer be locked buses with security inside and outside, now you have to solve these problems alone, and if you do not want it, just say so, everybody will understand.”

Prior to this weekend’s meeting between White and McGregor, signs have already been pointing to a McGregor/Nurmagomedov encounter, with Khabib’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz sending out a tweet last week that seemed to imply that McGregor would soon be punished by his client following a near one-hour phone conversation with Nurmagomedov:

Just talked to my brother @TeamKhabib 59 minutes over the phone. Lots of exciting things coming! Everybody will get punished for their actions. That’s all I got to say.

— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) May 19, 2018

Within a one-week span, McGregor also tweeted what could be easily interpreted as an indicator that the stripped-stripped will soon be looking to reclaim one of his championships:

Keep your dukes up when you see me.
See you soon. pic.twitter.com/M2KX5HZ90F

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 23, 2018

Regardless of what happens this weekend, we will have to wait for McGregor’s legal issues to get sorted out before anything can be finalized or before any potential progress from today’s discussion can be acted on. One thing is for certain, Khabib Nurmagomedov is not the only person eager to learn what comes from this weekend’s meeting, as the entire MMA community will be awaiting word on McGregor’s future with the same bated breaths.