Tag: Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Video: Dana White Has Intense Interview Over UFC 223 Bus Attack

Dana White got into an intense interview who brought up the UFC 223 bus attack involving Conor McGregor.

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Dana White has an intense interview with Waleed Aly of the Channel 10 show to promote UFC Fight Night 142 in Adelaide and UFC 234 next February. This is when Aly brought up the UFC 223 bus attack.

Back in April during fight week of the UFC 223 pay-per-view event, McGregor and several members of his entourage decided to fly from Ireland to Brooklyn, New York to get revenge on current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

It all started once the UFC lightweight champion got into an argument with McGregor’s training partner, Artem Lobov, earlier that week. This led to McGregor attacking the fighter bus that had Nurmagomedov on and he was arrested as a result, then was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.

Aly brought up how there haven’t been any real punishments involving these fighters for their actions. This includes the bus attack and their UFC 229 post-fight brawl.

“We have a hearing that’s coming up in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) that’s coming up in December. They will lay down fines and suspensions and whatever they’re going to do. They’re actually coming after me for the promotion of the fight. So it was a bad night and believe me everybody asks me this question, White said (H/T to News.com).

Dana White Fires Back

White continued by stating that this incident isn’t good for business as they don’t need outside drama in order to sell fights.

You know, ‘This happened and it was bad, but it’s good for your business’, it’s really not good for business when things like that happen. We don’t need that type of stuff to sell a fight.”

This led to White defending himself by stating that McGregor was definitely punished for his actions.

“We do a show called UFC Embedded where we follow the fighters around. So those cameras were there when that happened because of that. But do you understand, he (McGregor) got arrested. He went to jail! He had to go before the New York Attorney-General. So they already took care of it, what am I going to do? What’s a suspension going to do? He was suspended, he couldn’t fight because he was in jail!”

Dana Doesn’t Back Down

Aly doubled down with his take and made it known that he wasn’t criticizing White but trying to get an answer from him.

“I’m levelling, that’s what I do. I put on fights. This guy was arrested, he was down there because we were supposed to be talking about a fight he was going to be in. He came and attacked a bus and got arrested and went to jail.”

White brought up how the UFC is overseen by the NSAC. Following their UFC 229 post-fight brawl, they’re both suspended for their actions.

“Now we’re overseen by the NSAC, so these guys can’t fight. They’re both on suspension, they’re going to get fined a certain amount of money. Whatever that number is that they suggest and then there’s going to be a suspension held out. That’s what Nevada does, they govern us. So what else am I going to do? Suspend them for another year? It doesn’t make sense.”

Finally, the UFC President made it known that reality is always better than a script that is written for MMA. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong.

“Let me tell you what, reality is better than any script you could ever write. If you think that we would put our top guy in a position where he attacks a bus. Hurts other fighters then gets sued by all of them and then gets arrested. We’re not that good.”

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Conor McGregor’s Attorney Says Cornermen Should Share Blame For UFC 229 Brawl

Conor McGregor’s attorney is hoping that the cornermen for both fighters take responsibility.

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Conor McGregor’s attorney, Michael Mersch, has made it known that he hopes that all the cornermen involved in the UFC 229 brawl should take responsibility for their actions.

On Wednesday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission held a hearing regarding this incident. At the meeting, it was revealed that they would give extended the temporary suspension to both McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Following the main event fight, the UFC lightweight champion went flying out of the Octagon. He got into a brawl with some of McGregor’s teammates including his training partner Dillon Danis. There were many people trying to calm down the situation at the UFC 229 pay-per-view event. There were also some cornermen involved in the brawl.

McGregor and Khabib must face their punishment when they find out actual sanctions from the NSAC later this year. The commission will meet on December 10th where they will decide the fates of the two UFC stars.

NSAC chief Bob Bennett has made his stance known by stating that he puts part of the blame on both fighters’ managers.

McGregor’s Attorney Fires Back

However, McGregor’s attorney and former UFC legal counsel member, has fired back with a statement of his own. Those comments are about the cornermen taking the blame as well.

“But for the actions of Mr. Nurmagomedov, none of this would have happened.” Mersch said (via MMAjunkie). “I hope the commission will not just focus on the two fighters in this case. Because I think the commission has a history of looking at the actions of corner people, as well.”

Featherweight fighter Zubaira Tukhugov is a cornerman in question as he jumped the cage and blindsided McGregor. This was in the middle of the chaos that ensued. Mersch stated that although he’s not sure who was involved in the brawl, the NSAC can get those names.

“I don’t pretend to know the names or functions of every single person that was in and out of the octagon post-fight. But I assume that at least some of them were licensed by this commission.”

Mersch continued by stating the NSAC always looks at activities above and beyond the fighters themselves in these cases.

“And this commission, whether it was in the Zab Judah hearings, or the Mike Tyson ‘Bite Fight.’ The commission looks at activities above and beyond the fighters themselves. Once I have a complaint, we’re happy to address it with them.”

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Conor McGregor Breaks Down UFC 229 Loss

Conor McGregor has issued a lengthy statement on his fight at UFC 229 as well as a potential rematch against Khabib.

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Conor McGregor breaks down in a long-form manner his latest loss inside of the Octagon under the UFC banner. McGregor lost to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headliner of UFC 229 from Las Vegas, Nevada.

If fight fans wondered what the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion thought about his latest performance, he’s let them know. He took to his official Instagram account where he gave some analysis on it.

In his lengthy post on this social media platform, he gave a round-by-round breakdown of this fight and noted that he doesn’t have a problem with not getting an immediate rematch with Khabib.

“Thoughts on my last fight. Round 1. I believe from a sport standpoint, round 1 was his. Top position against the fence. Zero position advancement or damage inflicted. But top position. From a fight standpoint the first round is mine.”

McGregor continued by bringing up how he thought in the second round, the UFC champion was running away inside of the Octagon.

“Actual shots landed and a willingness to engage. Straight left early. Knee to the head on the low shot. Elbows in any and all tie up scenarios. Opponent just holding the legs against the fence for almost the entire round. Round 2 he is running away around the cage before being blessed with a right hand that changed the course of the round, and the fight. It was a nice shot.”

Conor brought up how it was a dominating round for Khabib and should’ve given his standup game more respect in hindsight.

“After the shot I bounced back up to engage instantly, but again he dipped under to disengage. That is the sport and it was a smart move that led to a dominant round, so no issue. Well played. If I stay switched on and give his stand up even a little more respect, that right hand never gets close and we are talking completely different now.”

The former UFC champ admitted that while preparing for this fight, he didn’t give Khabib striking skills any respect, which in his words won’t happen again.

“I gave his upright fighting no respect in preparation. No specific stand up spars whatsoever. Attacking grapplers/wrestlers only. That won’t happen again. I also gave my attacking grappling no respect. To defense minded. Lessons. Listen to nobody but yourself on your skill set.”

He stated that he must take his own advice as he’s the master of this game and fix the mistakes that he made.

“You are the master of your own universe. I am the master of this. I must take my own advice. Round 3. After the worst round of my fighting career, I come back and win this round. Again walking forward, walking him down, and willing to engage. Round 4. My recovery was not where it could have been here. That is my fault.”

McGregor understands that he made a critical error of abandoning his over hook at an important time in this round.

“Although winning the early exchanges in 4, he dips under again and I end up in a bad position with over 3 on the clock. I work to regain position and end up upright, with my back to the fence. A stable position. Here however, I made a critical error of abandoning my over hook at this crucial time, exposing the back, and I end up beaten fair and square.”

Conor ended the statement by stating that he will make his return with his confidence being high and well prepared.

“What can I say? It was a great fight and it was my pleasure. I will be back with my confidence high. Fully prepared. If it is not the rematch right away, no problem. I will face the next in line. It’s all me always, anyway. See you soon my fighting fans I love you all.”

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Daniel Cormier Explains Why Conor McGregor Shouldn’t Rematch Khabib

Daniel Cormier doesn’t agree with Khabib and McGregor should fight again in the near future.

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Daniel Cormier explains why there should not be a rematch between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov anytime soon.

Background

It should be noted that Cormier is a Nurmagomedov teammate at American Kickboxing Academy and needs to be taken into consideration when reading and understanding the words of DC.

Khabib made his first successful title defense as UFC lightweight champion. He did just that in the main event of UFC 229 pay-per-view event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The UFC heavyweight champion gave his take on this fight during a recent interview with MMA Fighting.

“He really did a good job, and that’s why if you’re Team McGregor, there’s cause for concern, because I don’t know if he could do that any better and he still got beat in the way that he got beat. That’s why, I think if you’re Team McGregor, you’d be concerned about a fight with Nurmagomedov, because I don’t think he could defend any better,” Cormier continued (transcript courtesy of MMAMania).

Daniel Cormier Explains

DC stated that he doesn’t think McGregor could do a better job in a rematch and that impacts the possibility of a second fight.

“I thought was as good as [he could do], because he did a good job and I don’t know if he could do it any better … because then [Nurmagomedov] is going to go to level five, and he going to go to level six, and he’s going to just keep putting different things behind each other until eventually you kinda can’t keep up. That’s what Henry Cejudo does. That’s what he did to DJ a couple times to get those takedowns.”

Understanding

Cormier also brought up how he understands where Khabib was coming from in his intentions during the post-fight brawl.

“I think, Conor, he was building a fight, and there was just a little bit of a difference in the approach,” Cormier said.

His Own Experience

The reason for that is due to his own history as he has bad blood with his own arch-rival, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

“When he was building the fight and kinda going home going, ‘Okay, yeah, I think that might’ve gotten him a little bit,’ or, ‘that got under his skin,’ the whole time it’s causing this guy (Nurmagomedov) to just go, ‘God, I hate him. Man, I can’t stand this dude. I want to hurt him,’ then going back to the gym and training harder and more. So, that’s where the difference lies. It’s like, we (Jones and I) never regretted anything we said to each other or about each other, and it was okay if it just continued to escalate.”

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John Kavanagh Explains Why Conor McGregor Lost To Khabib

Conor McGregor’s head coach breaks down what caused him to lose at UFC 229.

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John Kavanagh explains what factored into Conor McGregor’s latest loss and the adjustments he would make if they got a rematch.

McGregor lost to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headliner of last week’s UFC 229 from Las Vegas, Nevada. McGregor’s coach spoke with Ariel Helwani of ESPN about what he would do differently should they book a rematch.

Kavanagh Explains

”If I could go back, maybe the mentality was a little too defensive,” Kavanagh said (H/T to MMAMania). “Conor’s a very offensive fighter and when his time to land was there – and we did have opportunities – it wasn’t there the way it was in the Eddie [Alvarez] fight, for example. The Eddie fight was off a big training camp for Diaz 2, which was off a big training camp for Diaz 1. So we had a lot of cage time.”

Ring Rust?

He continued by stating that coming into this fight, he didn’t think ring rust would play a factor but it did.

”This one, like you said, it’s almost two years out. I said I didn’t think ring rust would play a part, but I have to be honest, when I look at it now, when I replay it in my head, I do feel like it played a little bit of a part.”

What Went Right

The head coach brought up how McGregor didn’t quite get his shots off but thought that his takedown defense was on par.

“He didn’t quite get his shots off like he normally would. I thought defensively he did quite well defending a lot of takedowns, especially in round 3. But Khabib is amazing, amazingly effective MMA fighter. His style is suffocating, it’s relentless, and he does it better than anyone else.”

To Expand

Kavanagh believes that they won the third round and wants to spend more time on offense.

”In round 3 that we won, the shots that Conor were landing didn’t quite have the sting that they normally would, he wasn’t able to do things how he normally would,” Kavanagh concluded. “So yeah, if we could turn back time, I would have liked to spend more time on offense and capitalizing on those scenarios when they presented themselves, which they did.”

Conor Agrees?

Kavanagh wouldn’t say whether he thinks that McGregor would agree with his take on the mistakes in this fight. But understands that McGregor is focused on his pro-MMA career despite outside distractions.

”That’s what’s made him who he is, he is able to juggle things like that,” he said. “It’s just been part of his journey the whole way through that we’re always vying for his attention between his other interests. But he is very focused.”

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Floyd Mayweather Thinks Khabib Will Receive ‘Huge’ Fine For ‘Unprofessional’ Brawl

Floyd Mayweather believes Khabib Nurmagomedov should be fined huge for UFC 229 brawl.

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Floyd Mayweather thinks UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov should receive a huge fine for starting the massive brawl at the UFC 229 pay-per-view event. We are a week removed from this incident and more fighters continue to come out to give their take on what appears to be the biggest news story of the year.

His Connection

The undefeated boxing legend does have some history with Conor McGregor and also knows the ins and outs of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).

The boxing match between these fighters took place on August 26th, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It aired live on PPV (pay-per-view) for the low price of $100 for HD and $90 for SD. As seen in the fight, McGregor did show some good things in the ring considering that it was his first outing as a professional. However, he ultimately lost by TKO in the tenth round.

Opinion

Mayweather believes (H/T to Bloody Elbow) that Khabib jumping out of the Octagon and starting a brawl with the corner of the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion was unprofessional.

“From what I heard was that [Khabib Nurmagomedov] after the fight, [Conor] McGregor‘s opponent jumped out the ring and was fighting people in the crowd,” said Mayweather in a recent interview on ITP Live. “Very unprofessional.”

Floyd Mayweather Thinks

The boxing legend also expects the NSAC to hand out a huge fine to the UFC champ and brought up how Zab Judah, who fought Floyd and got into a melee in the ring, received a huge fine for his actions.

“It’s going to be a huge fine, pretty sure,” the boxer continued. “Because with my fight, with Zab Judah, it was a crazy melee in the ring and there was a huge penalty, huge fine. If I’m not mistaken, seven figures. not to me, but could have been to Zab Judah or my uncle Roger or even Leonard Ellerbe.”

Punishment

Thus, at the end of the day, when a fighter acts out, there will be a punishment handed out. It should be noted that an NSAC hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24 where Khabib, as well as McGregor, will face the board for their actions. Thus, this is when we’ll know the outcome of this brawl whether that be a suspension or fine.

“So I know with a guy jumpin’ out the cage into the audience and fightin’ different people, the fine is going to be crazy.”

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