He described the situation as being “in the red zone”.
Conor McGregor was in New York today for his hearing following his antics at a UFC Media day in April, which saw the UFC star throw objects at a bus containing other fighters.
The Dublin man avoided jail time, and will just have to complete 1-3 days of community service, an anger management class and a fine.
The conversation very quickly changed subject from crime to sport, and people wanted to know if he would be in the Octagon anytime soon.
His manager, Audie Attar had some very positive news for fans of the fighter.
Attar claimed that negotiations regarding a fight between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov were ‘in the red zone’.
Luckily, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani sprung to the rescue of the millions of European fans who had no idea what this NFL reference meant…
McGregor’s manager @AudieAttar told me they are in the “red zone” in terms of talks with the UFC. That is an American football term. Basically, the field is 100 yards long. The last 20 yards before scoring is called the red zone. So this is a promising development.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 26, 2018
When asked if Nurmagomedov was the favourite for McGregor’s next fight, Attar said: “I think that’s the likely opponent at this point.”
You can watch the interview between the two in full here:
Clip via ESPN
Helwani went live on Periscope to elaborate on the goings on today, and claimed that he felt McGregor vs Nurmagomedov would be the biggest fight in UFC history.
He went on to say that it would do close to two million PPV buys, smashing the previous records.
October 6th is the most likely date for the fight to take place, according to Helwani. “There’s also the 29 December in Las Vegas… October 6th to me is what everyone wants.”
Helwani reminded us about what the UFC has been missing without McGregor, referring to him as: “The biggest draw in the sport, the biggest star in the sport, and one of the biggest stars in the world”.
