Dana White praises Khabib Nurmagomedov for his actions when he took the stage for what was supposed to be the final exchange with Conor McGregor before they fight. This was being hyped as the last time that they would trade words in a public setting before getting inside of the Octagon.
Nurmagomedov will attempt to make his first successful title defense as lightweight champ against the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion. Things didn’t go according to plan.
Nurmagomedov was left sitting around and waiting for McGregor to get to the press conference. This is not what Khabib wanted as he started the hard cut to make weight as he was most likely starving and miserable during the final day of his weight cut.
Thus, he decided to have different plans as he bailed on the conference before McGregor could arrive due to him always being late to these media events. The UFC President took notice of this move and thought it was a great move on the part of the UFC champ.
Mind Games
“These are all mind games leading up until tomorrow,” White told ESPN (H/T to MMAMania). “If you really look at what happened in New York, I think Conor McGregor absolutely got in his head, got in his manager’s head, rattled and shook them all in New York.”
Dana White Praises Khabib
White continued by stating that he thought it was a perfect counter-punch by the champ and handled it like a pro.
“I thought [Thursday] was the perfect counter-punch by Khabib. Khabib went out there at three o’clock, said, ‘I’m a professional, I’m here, I’m here to answer questions, and then I’m going to leave.’ I thought it was played perfectly by Khabib.”
The UFC 229 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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