JUSTIN GAETHJE snubbed the chance for a big money fight against Conor McGregor after Khabib Nurmagomedov told him to face the Irishman.

Khabib’s manager Ali Abdelaziz has revealed his star tried to get Gaethje to face Notorious before sharing the Octagon with the undefeated lightweight champion.

However, he says Gaethje did not like the idea.

Also, Abdelaziz now has given McGregor a plan of action that could see Conor meet Khabib in a rematch to their explosive UFC 229 showdown.

He said if Conor fights Islam Makhachev “then Khabib will fight him.”

Abdelaziz told TMZ Sports: “Justin said no, Khabib told me to tell Justin to go fight Conor, Justin said no.

“Listen, we dictate this, Conor right now, he can be a back-up fighter, he can go make win, he can maybe make some money.

“He’s [McGregor] not even number three, he’s number four or five.

“Conor he can go fight [Jorge] Masvidal, we have no interest in fighting him, he needs to get some wins, he needs to fight some good opponents.”

Abdelaziz added: “I said, the only way he can fight Khabib is if he fights Islam Makhachev and Khabib will fight him.”

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McGregor has only fought once since his fourth round submission loss to Khabib in October 2018.

He bounced back with a first round stoppage of Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone on January 18.

Since then he has announced his retirement from MMA, but many believe the potential chance of a rematch against Khabib would tempt him back.

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