Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach Javier Mendez talked about Conor McGregor’s recent behaviour.
Conor McGregor is, by design, the most controversial figure in MMA. ‘Notorious’ has ensured this by escalating stunts, personal attacks and the occasional interaction with the law. These events has all increased in severity and frequency as the 33-year-old’s sporting ability and accomplishments have decreased.
Lately, McGregor has utilized his thumbs to advance his notoriety as he tweets (and deletes) absurd, offensive and distasteful messages directed mostly at the two men who have most recently bested him in the cage: Dustin Poirier and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor has mentioned the families of both those men, in tweets designed to keep the Irishman in the news and anger his old opponents.
To rile up Poirier, who beat him twice by TKO this year, McGregor has threatened to kill his wife and children, going so far as to tweet out pictures of the Poirier family.
As for Nurmagomedov, McGregor has poked at the Dagestani with references to the death of his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who died from COVID-19 last year. On Twitter McGregor asked if Abdulmanap was ‘evil’ and COVID was ‘good’. This tweet was in reference to ‘The Eagle’ claiming that ‘good always defeats evil’, which he sent out after Poirier broke McGregor’s leg at UFC 264.
Nurmagomedov’s coach Javier Mendez recently appeared on Real Quick with Mike Swick to discuss McGregor. And he was not kind to the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion or his team.
“He’s got all the money, but he doesn’t have the one thing he used to have: The respect of the whole world as a fighter,” said Mendez (ht MMA Fighting). “Maybe he’s angry because he doesn’t have that anymore. I just know he should have never texted those words, ever.”
When discussing McGregor tweet about Nurmagomedov’s father, Mendez asked, “Who should like him for a comment like that? How many people do you know, lost their family, lost their business, lost everything because of COVID, and you make fun of it? You say COVID good, father evil? Are you kidding me?
“So you’re saying to all those poor people that lost their family, lost their business, people that committed suicide over this tragedy that’s happened to the whole world, and you think you’re making a mockery of it by trying attack someone’s father by using that? You’re an idiot. You are an idiot. … It’s just another knife to dig in people’s hearts. He’s an idiot. He’s flat out an idiot, and he’s out of control. I’m sorry. …
“And this has nothing to do with Khabib’s father. This has nothing to do with those comments on COVID. We already know what he thinks on Khabib. That’s fine. But you make a comment like that, all the money in the world isn’t going to allow you to get away with some of the stupid things you say.”
In addition to damning McGregor for his behaviour, Mendez also talked about McGregor’s coaches. The leader of AKA said he felt that John Kavanagh, and others around McGregor, had completely lost control of their pupil.
“He’s been saying a lot of stupid things, and it’s obvious to me that his coaches, which I think they’re good guys, can’t control him. And what do you do if you have a guy like that? He’s your money cow.”