Former UFC champ champ Conor McGregor rematches Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257 on January 23, 2021. Division champion Khabib Nurmagomedov said he was retired, but has remained in the USADA testing pool; his manager, as well as UFC president Dana White, have indicated there may be at least one more fight for “The Eagle.” Still, during a recent interview with The Mac Life, Conor’s coach John Kavanagh said he thought the fight should be for the belt or an interim belt.

I don’t really get why this one isn’t for the title, if I’m being 100 percent honest. said Kavanagh. Maybe it’s Dana, this is a little carrot towards Khabib ‘do you really want this guy.’ I don’t know. I know there’s stuff, the games that go on, I don’t involve myself in it.

But this to me feels like it’s for the belt. But I guess at the very least the winner of this will be offered a title fight but who would that be against? It’s a bit of a strange scene we have in front of us, which makes it interesting.

I think Conor and Khabib are the two best lightweights. It would be for me from a coaching perspective, phenomenal to see that contest again. Will he come back? You’re asking the wrong guy. That’s Khabib. He seems the type of guy if he says something, that’s it, but like Dana has hinted, there might be some wiggle room in those promises made. Time will tell.

Right now, we have a very exciting fight coming up in a couple of weeks’ time. I think 2021, regardless of what’s next for Conor, is going to be an exciting year. He seems to be in a very different mindset than I’ve seen him in a long time.

Conor tends to be all in no matter what he’s doing and he’s all in on following a routine and training a certain way and eating a certain way and he’s got all sorts of ideas about different competitions and different things he can do for the next year and I’m just happy to be playing a small part.

h/t Damon Martin for MMA Fighting