Former two-weight world champion, ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor remains entangled among a rivalry with undisputed lightweight best, Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov, and last night, aimed some barbs at the Dagestani along with Dominance MMA leader, Ali Abdelaziz.
McGregor, who is currently slated to headline UFC 257 on January 23 in a high-stakes, potential 155-pound title-eliminator with one-time foe, Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier posted on his official Instagram account yesterday, sharing news that his longtime partner, fiancé, Dee Devlin and himself are expecting their third child.
That didn’t come as the Dubliner’s sole foray on his social media platforms, however, as late last night, the Crumlin native exchanged some tweets with Khabib’s manager, the above mentioned, Abdelaziz.
In a series of tweets which have since been deleted, McGregor posted, “MeDanaAliGonnaGetcha” — before posting, “Robert Earl Britton is the man“. Robert Britton is, of course, the name Abdelaziz used when he signed up with USADA back in 2001.
Drawing an eventual response from Abdelaziz, the manager claimed McGregor would fail to hold Octagon gold at either lightweight again, or even at welterweight, listing a couple of his clients who would knock him back, including Justin Gaethje, Kamaru Usman, Gilbert Burns, Khamzat Chimaev, Islam Makhachev, Beneil Dariush, Belal Muhammad, and Vicente Luque.
In response, McGregor implied the still retired and undisputed lightweight best, Khabib was avoiding a rematch following their bad-blooded UFC 229 clash in October 2018 — penning, “Decision time for the (duck emoji).“
Here's every tweet of Conor McGregor and Ali Abdelaziz talk on Twitter.
Conor deleted his tweets, while Ali's tweets are still available to see. pic.twitter.com/T4XFmmxyGM
— Giorgi Kokiashvili
(@iHeartGeorgius1) December 26, 2020
(@iHeartGeorgius1)
In a rather personal barb aimed at the Straight Blast Gym mainstay, Abdelaziz urged McGregor to seek out an IV drip, questioning if he was “drunk or high“.
Reassuring his manager that he’ll handle business with McGregor in the Octagon, upcoming UFC Fight Island 8 headliner, Khamzat ‘Borz’ Chimaev chimed in claiming, “don’t worry brother (Ali Abdelaziz) I will smash this chicken for you.“
McGregor and Chimaev will both appear on Yas Island in January, with the former slated for his aforenoted re-run with Poirier in the promotion’s first pay-per-view event of the year, while Chimaev clashes with perennial 170-pound contender, Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards in a rescheduled matchup following a failed tie at UFC Vegas 17 this month.
For Khabib, the 29-0 champion called time on his professional mixed martial arts career immediately following his successful title unification bid against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October, although UFC president, Dana White remains confident Khabib will feature in the Octagon again — ahead of an expected sit down between the two in Abu Dhabi next month.