Conor McGregor has been told he should take an easier "money" fight before he is "pimped out" to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
McGregor has been pushing to get an immediate welterweight title opportunity against the winner of Usman's August bout with Leon Edwards when he returns to the octagon from his broken leg. But Usman's manager and one of McGregor's most hated rivals Ali Abdelaziz has suggested he must fight once in a tune-up bout before facing the champion.
The Irishman is a two-weight world champion at featherweight and lightweight, and is aiming for an unprecedented third belt in a prospective match-up with Usman. But the Nigerian fighter has looked unbeatable since claiming gold, and has never lost under the UFC banner.
Responding to a tweet from BT Sport regarding McGregor's upcoming return to action, expected by the end of this year or the start of 2023, Abdelaziz said: "Give this guy easy money. We need him to win to pimp him out one more time like we did before."
Abdelaziz, who tagged the post with emojis of the Nigerian flag and a crown indicating Usman, is also in charge of the legendary former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov's career. And he was likely referencing when Nurmagomedov made massive money to defend his title against McGregor at UFC 229 back in 2018.
Their fight was one of the most highly anticipated in the sport's history after a lengthy feud that even saw McGregor spend a night behind bars for an attack on a bus on which Nurmagomedov was travelling. And it became the highest-selling pay-per-view in the sport's history, garnering millions in revenue.
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On the night, Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor, who was returning from a massive crossover fight with Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring a year prior. It began a rough period for the Irishman, who has been marred by injuries and other controversies, and has won just once since his lightweight title victory in 2016.
He has insisted that he has no fear of Usman, however, indicating that he has already faced similar types of opponents during his career. The welterweight champion came from wrestling, similarly to the likes of Eddie Alvarez or Chad Mendes, but has proven to be arguably the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
"I feel confident against Usman," he insisted during an interview earlier this year with his news outlet The Mac Life. "A jab-happy, sloppy, orthodox wrestler with no submissions whatsoever - what's he going to do? Where's the danger here? I don't see danger - no one has ever obtained three titles in three divisions like I will do if we make this fight."
