Conor McGregor and Khabib’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, both still have vivid memories of October 6, 2018.
In what remains the most purchased pay-per-view in the history of the UFC, UFC 229 featured a highly anticipated bout between the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov and the biggest star this sport has ever seen, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor. The bout’s conclusion saw Nurmagomedov pick up the submission victory via neck crack prior to complete and total pandemonium in the immediate aftermath, consisting of a post-fight brawl between members of both teams.
Last week, McGregor posted a tweet stating that fighting was easy for him. This prompted Ali Abdelaziz to issue this response:
One of the many things that led Nurmagomedov to snap following his victory over McGregor was some of what McGregor said about his manager, Abdelaziz. McGregor referred to Abdelaziz as a “terrorist rat,” which could be interpreted as McGregor taking a shot at the religion of Islam. McGregor would no doubt clarify that his shot was directed solely at Abdelaziz based on unconfirmed rumors of the manager’s past.
“It’s Only Business”
There were other comments made by McGregor in connection to this bout that the Irishman claims were fully misquoted as opposed to just taken out of context. This time, the remarks weren’t made during the lead-up but during the actual fight, this being the “It’s only business” remarks McGregor is believed to have said to Nurmagomedov. Multiple outlets have agreed with this being the words uttered by McGregor, but in a deleted tweet, the former champ-champ denied ever saying such a thing while criticizing BT Sport for publicizing the misquote.
“Real dirty. I’ve felt the commentary wrath a few times,” McGregor said of BT Sport. “Imagine this was the round I had won too. The guy was holding onto me crying to referee saying I was breaking the rules or some shit. And they try and say that I said this only business shit. Absolute horse plop.”
Nurmagomedov himself has taunted McGregor for these alleged comments many times over. McGregor had hoped to shut Nurmagomedov up in a rematch, but the Dagestani opted to retire on top of the sport before round 2 was able to materialize.
What do you remember most about the epic UFC 229 main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor?
