Bad Blood – Continued

We all know combat sports are worth betting on, but you would bet on a rematch between Conor and Khabib? Conor McGregor’s tweet insulting his dead father, according to Khabib Nurmagomedov, was not sent from a sober mind, and it also showed the author’s actual character. For the first time on Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin’ podcast, the former UFC lightweight champion addressed McGregor’s words that attracted considerable censure.

Nurmagomedov remarked that only evil could talk about your father, like wife, kids, and religion, when he spoke about it. “If you’re a regular person, you’re not going to talk about this.” I believe he wrote this tweet after drinking too much or doing something, in my opinion. He always deletes these tweets. ‘Oh, what I did,’ he muttered as he returned to normalcy [while looking at his phone]. After that, he deletes. This is my take on what he regularly does.”

“When someone isn’t among us, when he isn’t even alive, it reveals what’s on the inside, it reveals how filthy you are,” Nurmagomedov added. “When you’re one of the best in the world and you come into a pub and punch someone who’s 70 years old, like an old man, it shows your heart. This reveals who you are on the inside and how filthy you are. How can you behave in this manner when you have parents and children? I’m not sure why his close friends don’t tell him, ‘Hey, what’s up?’”

“Some people lose genuine people around them when they become wealthy or famous,” Nurmagomedov stated. “They get rid of them because genuine people who care about you will tell you the truth. But what about fraudulent people? ‘You’re doing fine,’ they constantly remark. You’re doing fine. ‘You’re doing fine.’ They never say anything to you because they don’t want to upset you, and they know they’ll lose their cosy spot if they do. “Real folks are unconcerned about this.” They were with you before you got famous and wealthy, and they are unconcerned by your wealth or celebrity. They adore you. And because of your ego, you don’t like it when they tell you the truth.

Even though the two haven’t met since UFC 229 – which remains the UFC’s highest-ever selling pay-per-view – the bad blood between them doesn’t appear to have subsided in the least. But it’s frequently forgotten that before McGregor’s move up to the lightweight category in 2016, the two were very friendly. Even though the Irishman was a featherweight, Khabib had a healthy regard for him, and the two swapped admiration on Twitter before meeting and taking a photo together. They had a picture following McGregor’s victory over Dustin Poirier at UFC 178, which was ironic. Back in September of 2014, such was the case.

Khabib was 22-0 at the time and had just defeated future lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos. When McGregor became UFC featherweight champion in December 2015, he set his sights on becoming the UFC’s first-ever double champion. Unfortunately, RDA would pull out of their battle only weeks before it would occur, and Nate Diaz would take his place. 

When Dos Anjos returned from injury, Eddie Alvarez knocked him out in the first round, and he lost his title. That earned Alvarez the infamous ‘red panty night,’ as McGregor knocked him out in two rounds and created history. Khabib, who fought on the same UFC 205 card as McGregor on that historic night, improved to 24-0 on the night and 8-0 in the UFC, while The Notorious completely bypassed the line. That night, The Eagle was supposed to battle for the title. When it became evident that McGregor could take the fight, the UFC cancelled the contract that had been signed to send The Russian to face Alvarez. He was demoted to the undercard and was furious about it.

He tapped like a chicken at the start of the year, and then he competes for a title at the end of the year – very interesting,” he fumed, referring to McGregor’s loss to Nate Diaz in their first fight. Given their histories and standing, it appeared like the two would collide, but McGregor had other plans and was fighting Floyd Mayweather for life-changing money. 

By the time McGregor returned to the cage, just over two years after his last appearance, the rivalry between the two had reached a fever pitch, with most of it stemming from McGregor’s social media barrages following Khabib’s withdrawal from a couple of fights.

Khabib caused McGregor to tap out in the fourth round and controlled the fight on the ground and in the stand-up, albeit according to a handful of judges, McGregor did take a round from Khabib. The conflict was defined by the heinous events that followed. Khabib jumped over the cage and attempted to strike Dillion Danis, a teammate of McGregor’s who had been verbally assaulting Khabib all night. Inside the octagon, McGregor was attacked by several of Khabib’s teammates. Fortunately, no one was injured in either case.