March 2015 - Conor called it

Conor McGregor's powers of prediction played a large role in his meteoric rise to the pinnacle of mixed martial arts.

It was during his promotional world tour with Jose Aldo that McGregor's personality really shone through for the first time as he made the step up from promising European talent to bona fide superstar.

'The Notorious' was in the process of getting inside Aldo's head in the hope of wresting the 145lbs title away from the greatest featherweight of all time but McGregor knew that his own future lay at lightweight.

McGregor was a monster at featherweight and put himself through some gruesome cuts to make the limit so he always had eyes on moving up and when asked who he expected to hold the 155lbs belt in the future, McGregor was in little doubt.

"I think Khabib will get the lightweight belt," McGregor prophesied in response to a fan at a press conference.

April 2015 - "If he comes to 155lbs, welcome!"

Nurmagomedov needed just a week to respond to McGregor's prediction and expression of a desire to move up in weight.

After giving his pick for the McGregor vs. Aldo match-up, 'The Eagle' warned McGregor to stay away from lightweight for his own safety.

"I like Conor McGregor but if he comes to 155lbs then in four minutes, I will smash him," Nurmagomedov said.

"It would be no problem. He's an exciting guy and I like him. I think he can beat Jose Aldo, maybe finish him. A lot of people think Jose Aldo will beat him but, in my opinion, I think he kills him.

"But if he comes to 155lbs, welcome!"

December 2015 - Words of advice

McGregor required just 13 seconds to knock Aldo out in the main event of UFC 194 and that was the last time we've seen him make the drastic cut to 145lbs.

Immediately after becoming the UFC featherweight champion, McGregor set his sights on dominating the lightweight division.

With Nurmagomedov sidelined with an injury, he had some advice for the Irishman when he spoke to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour in the wake of UFC 194.

He said: "Right now, it's a very interesting situation in the lightweight division because Conor says he wants to come to the lightweight division. I think Conor has to stay in the featherweight division because if he moves to lightweight then people are going to say that he didn't do everything in the featherweight division because he hasn't fought Frankie Edgar."