In a rare interview leading up to UFC 229, McGregor shares his feelings on being stripped of his belts.
We’re less than a week away from Conor McGregor’s big return to MMA against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, and honestly, I was expecting a bit more of a circus atmosphere leading into this striker vs. grappler superfight. But aside from a lone press conference in New York City mid-September, we haven’t really gotten much talk from Conor or Khabib about the contest.
That seems to be changing now as McGregor granted a ten minute interview to his buds at The Mac Life. In it, a somewhat agitated and intense McGregor discussed a variety of topics, one of which was his displeasure with the UFC over how they stripped him of his belts.
McGregor’s featherweight title was taken weeks after he won the lightweight title in November of 2016. His lightweight title went in April of 2018. While it’s hard to argue with the UFC’s decision to move forward with the divisions, McGregor took it personally. Since, you know, winning those titles meant everything to him.
”I fell out of love with the game for a bit, went off on to my own thing,” McGregor said. “Had many things going on. Now I’m back. I’m hungry to compete. And we’re here right on the cusp of it. Making weight, handling the media obligations. And that’s it.”
”I spent my entire life’s work to win those two world titles,” he continued. “Those two UFC world titles. I set out a goal, I put everything, absolutely everything, sacrificed so much times, sacrificed so much to gain those world titles. And then as soon as I win the second world title, I wasn’t even offered a featherweight contest and the featherweight title was taken off of me and handed back to a man that I had a crazy history with.”
“I traveled the world with a two year build up. He ended up pulling out last minute. Blah blah blah blah blah, when I end the fight, I knock him out in in 13 seconds and then they give the belt back as soon as I walk out the Octagon in Madison Square Garden. And then like, what, about a month, a month or two, the lightweight belt is stripped from me also.”
”So these kind of things irritate me,” McGregor concluded. “Especially seeing what way it goes, who the belts are given to, who the people are that are challenging the belts. Who the person who has the belt is facing to get the belt. Many things irritate me in the game, and just watching it unfold, I just became more hungry to come back and show who the real king is.”
McGregor will get his chance to take his 155 pound belt back at UFC 229 on October 6th, but he’ll have to get through the extremely tough Khabib Nurmagomedov to do it. Khabib is 26-0 and the most violent grappler on the roster. Will he drag McGregor to the ground and ‘smesh’ his face? Or will McGregor land that legendary left hand and remind us why it’s silly to doubt him?