Tag: Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Chael Sonnen’s Harsh Response To Fans Saying Conor Threw First Punch In UFC 229 Brawl

Sonnen had quite the response to certain fans about this incident.

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Chael Sonnen’s harsh responses to certain fans who have criticized Conor McGregor for throwing the first punch in the brawl at the UFC 229 pay-per-view event. We are almost a week removed from this incident but yet people are still talking about it and dominating the headlines.

There have been many fans making the case that Conor McGregor was the one who threw the first punch to start the melee inside the Octagon. On the flip side, some say that it wasn’t his fault but rather Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Dispute

Sonnen is firing back at fans and has given his take on the situation. He also sent a message to fans who make this claim.

“First up, they can shove it up their ass,” Sonnen told MMA Fighting (H/T to Bloody Elbow). “That whole thing was created by some wimp somewhere about the other guy has to throw the first punch. If you’re engaging me aggressively, and I let you within an arm’s reach, I’m a sucker if I allow you to throw the first punch.”

Old School Fight

Sonnen brought up how in a fight, you never let someone get within an arm’s reach of you before a fight.

“The first thing you do – and remember this, if your dads weren’t smart enough to tell you. If you learned how to fight from your moms, or from your wimpy teachers in your liberal school district, you don’t let somebody get within an arm’s reach of you when they got that look in their eye. You keep them back, and if they break the distance, you always hit them first.”

Was Conor Wrong?

The former title contender believes that it was the former featherweight and lightweight champion who was in the right in the way he responded.

“Conor McGregor, who I’m not a defender of, was where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to do,” he said. “He was a licensed fighter following the unified rule which says in front of everything else, you protect yourself at all times. He gets up on that cage and is confronted by somebody who is not licensed to be there and is not supposed to be there. He’s not doing what he’s supposed to do and a melee has broken out.”

Blame Game

Instead, Sonnen places the blame on Nurmagomedov jumping over the Octagon to attack Dillon Danis.

“Conor McGregor had every reasonable right to throw at him, and that did not start the fight. Khabib had flown over the Octagon and thrown a jumping kick at into Dillon Danis. So, first off, your facts are wrong that Conor threw the first punch. It’s factually incorrect. Secondly, the unified rules state: ‘You protect yourself at all times.’ Conor was where he was supposed to be, in an Octagon, protecting himself against somebody who had come in to do him harm.”

Chael Sonnen’s Harsh Response

At the end of the day, Sonnen told those who hate him for these comments through social media that they can do something with their take.

“That’s the reality, and if you ask me if I’m getting hate on social media, then I hate you right back. And you can shove it up your ass, because that is what happened.”

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Khabib Nurmagomedov Further Opens Up On UFC 229 Brawl

Khabib says that no one can confine the eagle to a cage.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov further opens up on his actions when he decided to start a brawl after his fight at UFC 229. The UFC lightweight champion continues to backtrack from the apology that he made after the event and incident. Instead, he’s doubling down on his beef with Conor McGregor and what happened last weekend.

On Sunday, Khabib returned home and the whole city of Kaspiysk was behind their fighter. He even went into a 26,000+ seat football stadium in Kaspiysk, Dagestan to address fans.

Khabib Nurmagomedov Further Opens Up

“I prayed to God for one thing, to be left alone in the cage with this clown,” Nurmagomedov said, courtesy of RT. “I asked him this every day. I prayed that we would have no injuries, that we would make weight, and regain our strength, and finally be locked in that cage. Because a lot was said outside that cage, and I said that once that octagon door is shut, I am not responsible for my actions.”

Nothing Has Changed

Khabib made it known that this rivalry with the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion is not over. The reason for this is due to him not being ready to forgive McGregor for the comments that he made in the build-up to this fight. McGregor made some harsh comments about Khabib’s people among other things. Thus, this is the reason he thinks that jumping out of the Octagon to start a brawl with Dillon Danis was appropriate

“The first thing I wanted to show him, is the difference between our people, and his people,” said Nurmagomedov. “We know our history, our ancestors, and what our people have been through. Nothing can break us.”

Can’t Confine Him

Khabib also made it know that no one can confine an eagle to a cage and showed everyone just that.

“And with what happened afterwards, some people say I did the wrong thing, others that I did the right thing. You can’t confine an eagle to a cage. And I showed them that.”

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Dana White Reacts To NSAC Keeping Khabib’s Purse

Dana White disagrees that the NSAC should keep Khabib Nurmagomedov’s money.

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Dana White has reacted to the NSAC keeping the fight purse of the UFC lightweight champion. This is due to the massive brawl that was started by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. Obviously, this led to chaos breaking out that involved the UFC champ, Conor McGregor, and their respective camps.

What Is Known

The expectation is that the NSAC will have a hefty sanction for Khabib due to his actions after the UFC 229 pay-per-view event. It’s already known that his disclosed salary of $2,000,000 has already been withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. However, White doesn’t think that the NSAC has is right to take all of it.

He gave his reasoning behind his belief while doing a recent interview with TMZ Sports as he gave his own suggestions.

“They took his whole purse right now and they’re talking about keeping his purse – I do not think that that should happen,” White said (transcript via MMAjunkie). “You should not be able to keep his whole purse.”

Don’t Strip Him Of Title

Instead, White believes that they should only take $250,000 from him and that he gets to keep his title.

“I think they should take ($250,000) from him,” White said. “(He) absolutely keeps his title. And he’s going to get suspended, so maybe you give him a four to six months suspension.”

Different Situations

White doesn’t believe that this brawl and the bus attack that McGregor started back in April during UFC 223 fight week are the same situations.

“It’s different circumstances, you guys – this wasn’t at an event,” White explained. “This was in the bowels of the Barclays Center, it was a completely different situation. (McGregor) was dealing with the state of New York and the police. In this thing, (Nurmagomedov) was part of something that was regulated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.”

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Derrick Lewis Believes Conor McGregor Should Retire After UFC 229 Loss

According to Lewis, Conor McGregor should call it a career and for good reason.

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Derrick Lewis believes former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor should call it a career. Lewis, who also fought on the UFC 229 pay-per-view card, explained his mindset behind his claims during a recent interview.

Latest Fight

McGregor lost to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headliner of this event in what was supposed to be his grand return. Obviously, that didn’t come true as he lost in the fourth round by neck crank.

As seen in the co-main event of Saturday’s (October 6, 2018) UFC 229 pay-per-view event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lewis knocked out Alexander Volkov with 11 seconds left in the fight.

Lewis stated in an interview with TMZ Sports that he doesn’t think Khabib should be stripped of his belt due to his actions after the brawl.

“No, he didn’t do nothing. He just jumped in the stands. He didn’t that guy, the guy really started hitting him.”

Derrick Lewis Believes

Lewis was asked what he thinks should be next for McGregor, which is when he stated that McGregor has made so much that he needs to sit down.

“He made more money than I’ll ever make in this sport. So probably sit his ass down too.”

Retirement?

Lewis then switched gears by responding to a question about if he feels Conor should retire from the sport.

“I know I would. He made life-changing money. He really doesn’t have to fight. I’m fighting just so I can take care of my family. I don’t fight just because I love it just that much. I’m fighting just because it’s a job for me.”

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Khabib Nurmagomedov Gets Swarmed By Fans During Hero’s Welcome In Hometown

Khabib Nurmagomedov was treated like a huge star when returning to Dagestan.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov gets a great reaction from people in his home in the Republic of Dagestan once returning from his latest fight. Although Khabib is in some hot water back in the United States, which he’ll have to deal with soon, it didn’t matter to his fans in his hometown.

As seen in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 229 pay-per-view event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nurmagomedov scored his biggest win to date. He beat former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion McGregor by fourth-round neck crank.

Khabib Nurmagomedov Gets Swarmed

On Sunday, Khabib returned home and it appears that whole city of Kaspiysk was behind their fighter. They were aware of his return and it was a great turnout based on the videos that were posted online by Denis Geyko of RT International.

Khabib In Stadium

Well, there’s no doubt now that Khabib could fill a stadium worth of fans as fans were outside of the Anzhi Arena to welcome him. They would then go into 26,000+ seat football stadium in Kaspiysk, Dagestan. This is where he addressed the crowd with the title closely around him. This is when his fans went for a mad rush onto the field.

His Supporters

Although UFC 229 was no doubt hectic, the welcome that he received was hero like. Geyko posted this videos from the city of Makhachkala that captured the scene of fans honking their horns while leaning out the windows of cars in order to celebrate his victory.

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Derrick Lewis Explains Why He Was “Happy” To See UFC 229 Brawl

Derrick Lewis was happy to see that there was a brawl after the UFC 229 headliner.

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Derrick Lewis explains why he was happy to see that there was a massive brawl that was started by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. Obviously, this led to chaos breaking out that involved the UFC champ, Conor McGregor, and their respective camps. “The Black Beast” has a good reason for his take on this.

Big Win

As seen in the co-main event of Saturday’s (October 6, 2018) UFC 229 pay-per-view event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lewis knocked out Alexander Volkov with 11 seconds left in the fight. This was a big fight for Lewis as he was facing someone who many considered to be next in line for a title shot.

In order for this fight to happen, he needed to be healthy enough to accept the fight. Once Lewis gets over the hurdles of that, he had a great chance to cement himself as a top contender in the division and did just that. Lewis has won nine of his last ten fights and before this fight, he scored victories over Marcin Tybura and then Francis Ngannou at the UFC 226 event.

Lewis Explains Why

‘The Black Beast’ made his interesting take when it comes to the brawl after the UFC 229 headliner. The reason that he enjoyed the post-fight brawl was due to it likely increased his chance of getting a post-fight bonus for his knockout of Volkov.

“I thought it was entertaining,” Lewis said on the FS2 post-fight show (H/T to Bloody Elbow). “I was happy to see it.”

Keeps On Winning

Lewis later found out that he did get the Performance of the Night bonus worth $50,000, which meant that his good feeling was right.

“I thought [Nurmagomedov and McGregor] were gonna get the bonus, so I’m sure Dana White is gonna take the bonus from Khabib for that,” Lewis said. “Hopefully they give it to me.”

As a result of this win, Lewis moved his winning streak to three in a row. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

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