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Why are we so shocked about UFC 229? They get paid to fight and there was a fight and then another one and another one.
The Backstory
Conor McGregor was once held the 2016 Lightweight (155lbs) Championship and the 2015 Featherweight (145lbs) at the same time. McGregor spend most of 2017 talking trash and promoting his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. By April 2018, the UFC had stripped McGregor of both his titles due to inactivity.
April 5th 2018 is now known as the Brooklyn Bus Attack! McGregor showed up at the end of UFC 223 media day at the Barclays Center looking to confront Nurmagomedov. There is no love between McGregor’s team and Nurmagomedov’s team. McGregor loaded up a plane of teammates and flew from Ireland to New York to throw a medal hand dolly at Nurmagomedov’s team bus. The dolly shattered glass and caused passengers to bleed. Ray Borg, Flyweight fighter, suffered eye injuries from the flying glass. This was McGregor’s retaliation for Nurmagomedov confronting McGregor’s teammate, Artem Lobov, at the team hotel. The details on this “confronting” haven’t been given much attention due to a flying hand dolly and McGregor being charged with three counts of assault over the retaliation.
On April 7th Khabib Nurmagomedov beat Al Laquinta for the vacant Lightweight Championship title. Nurmagomedov having the Lightweight title was personal to McGregor. McGregor felt the UFC was holding him back from title fights and matching up fighters who were not good enough to be contending for his title. It kept getting personal for McGregor.
July 26th 2018 McGregor accepted a plea deal for the Brooklyn bus attack where the court agreed to drop the felony charges against him and McGregor agreed to a guilty plea to one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. Community service, anger management and to pay for the damages he caused to Nurmagomedov’s bus, were also part of the plea deal. This plea means that McGregor does not have a criminal record and McGregor doesn’t lose his travel visa.
Fast forward to September 2018 press tour and the Notorious trash talking McGregor doesn’t stop running his mouth or talking about his Irish whiskey, Proper twelve. Exactly what the media and fans wanted to see, McGregor being McGregor and Nurmagomedov just keeping his cool verbal jab after verbal jab. But McGregor took trash talking to whole new level, even for McGregor, by attacking Nurmagomedov’s religion, country, and family. There was even a tangent about Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, being a “bleeping snitch, terrorist rat.” Then McGregor told a story about Abdelaziz being pulled off a plane on September 11th 2001 in Egypt with five passports in his possession. None of McGregor’s claims have been proven and the allegations only show up from McGregor’s story. I just hope they don’t pull out Abdelaziz’s high school yearbook for evidence.
What McGregor haters don’t understand is just how calculated and tough McGregor really is. McGregor was paid $100 Million to box Floyd Mayweather. For a $100 Million (win or lose) I’d let Mayweather close-line me and I’d play possum until the bell rang. McGregor went ten rounds with one of the best boxers pound-for-pound to ever fight. McGregor wants to get in your head mentally and take you out of your focus. McGregor wants you to snap and lose your shit.
The Fight
October 6th 2018 UFC 229 Las Vegas for the Lightweight Championship. Conor McGregor (21-4-0) vs Khabib Nurmagomedov (27-0-0) on PPV (Pay-Per-View) in front of an estimated 2 million PPV buys. Nurmagomedov defended his UFC lightweight title by beating the bleep out of McGregor and forced McGregor to a tap out in the fourth round. But the fight didn’t end there.
The always calm Nurmagomedov scaled the octagon cage and went after Dillon Danis, a teammate of McGregor. While a pushing match erupted with security and those with team badges, two teammates of Nurmagomedov hurled themselves into the octagon and assaulted an already beaten dog, McGregor. The sucker punches to McGregor were a low blow, even by UFC standards. When the chaos was finally somewhat controlled, McGregor was escorted to his dressing room and to medical. UFC President, Dana White, told Nurmagomedov he couldn’t give Nurmagomedov his belt in fear of the crowd launching any and all items into the octagon. Nurmagomedov and his team were also escorted out and the adult beverages went flying on them.
Nurmagomedov looked like the bat-shit crazy one while making McGregor look like the victim! This has never happened in the history of McGregor’s career. You either love McGregor or you hate McGregor. There is no middle ground or sympathy for McGregor, EVER! Nurmagomedov won the battle, but lost the war. Just what McGregor wanted.
The Aftermath
The three men who assaulted McGregor were arrested after the fight in T-Mobile Arena. White confirmed that the three men were teammates of Nurmagomedov. McGregor refused to press charges against all three and they were released. The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has filed complaints against both fighters. White said that McGregor has been paid his purse of $2 million, but Nurmagomedov’s $3 million purse is being withheld by the NSAC. There still hasn’t been any clear indication on Nurmagomedov remaining the titleholder.
Nurmagomedov earned that championship belt. What he did in the octagon was title worthy for years to come. What he did outside of the octagon was disappointing, but somewhat expected. McGregor crossed so many lines when he made it personal and when you love your religion, family and country; you fight to protect them.
On Tuesday, the UFC announced that McGregor was given a one-month medical suspension. This is another way saying he got his butt beat and a pretty standard suspension. We are still waiting for the final suspensions for Nurmagomedov.
And McGregor wants a rematch. HA. He has no chance in hell against Nurmagomedov, it’s way too personal now.