Throughout the history of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), there have been several rivalries that have resulted in memorable fights, trash talk, interviews and pre-fight antics.
Whether you’re talking about Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, as well as Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, there hasn’t been a shortage of bad blood between several of UFC’s biggest stars.
Despite some scoffing at what can be deemed unsportsmanlike or unprofessional, at the end of the day, the bad blood has always lead to good business for UFC and all parties involved.
In UFC’s “Bad Blood, Good Business,” special — which is a part of UFC’s “25 Years in Short” series – the promotion details some of the biggest rivalries in the history of the promotion, many of which include the greatest salesmen of them all, Conor McGregor.
Indeed, it seems all of “Notorious’s” UFC fights have all been embroiled in bad blood, as Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz and the aforementioned Nurmagomedov were never too fond of the mouthy Irishman.
Before Conor came along, though, rivalries between Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes, as well as Ronda Rousey and Meisha Tate dominated headlines. Still, despite the controversy that always seems to follow McGregor – in and out of the cage — his rivalries with his past opponents pale in comparison when compared to the beef between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
Indeed, those two champions have provided fight fans with memorable confrontations and trash talk that have resulted in two blockbuster fights. But now that “DC” is getting ready to retire, there will be a new king in the rivalry department moving forward.
Which will more-than-likely be this one.