Khabib Nurmagomedov's protege Islam Makhachev is targeting a fight with Conor McGregor when he makes his return from injury.
The Dubliner is expected to be out until 2022 after summering a horror ankle break during his UFC 264 loss to Dustin Poirier.
He won't be short of options when he's ready to step back into the Octagon, and could be set for a run-in with his now retired foe Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The pair won't face off inside the cage, but speculation is building that McGregor could fight Makhachev, a fighter who has trains with and is mentored by Khabib.
The Russian is on an eight win streak in the UFC, and extended his record to 20-1 with rear naked choke submission against Thiago Moises in the main event of a UFC Fight Night last weekend.
And according to reports, Makhachev's team have pinpointed Conor McGregor as his 'dream' opponent.
ESPN reporter Brett Okamoto said on Twitter: 'Team Makhachev taking post-fight victory photos in the back. Makhachev's manager tells me this fight - Islam vs. Conor - is now his "dream fight."
It comes after a doctor claimed he is unable to see any stress fractures in Conor McGregor 's medical scans ahead of his third fight with Dustin Poirier.
The Dubliner claimed he was contemplating withdrawing from the trilogy bout before it took place, after he was receiving treatment on 'multiple stress fractures' in the changing room ahead of setting foot in the UFC 264 octagon.
McGregor then broke his leg in the opening round forcing the stoppage victory for Poirier, but sports doctor David Abassi has now claimed he sees 'no evidence' of the injury after consulting the MRI scans.
"The problem is, when you zoom in on that MRI — which I did — there’s no evidence of any stress reaction or stress fracture to the lower leg, where he in fact did have a fracture," Abassi said on a YouTube video.
"It does look like there’s a little bit of signal at the ankle joint — which is lower than where he sustained that fracture — and some tendonitis.
"If we were concerned about that from a symptomatic standpoint, we would’ve ordered a leg MRI, not this ankle MRI.
"This MRI would have no correlation to the injuries that he sustained on that night."
