Tag: NYC

Yesterday, the mixed martial arts (MMA) world was subject to one of its biggest-ever spectacles with New York City’s UFC 229 presser featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.

The first media event for October 6’s megafight between the current and former lightweight champions was an odd one to be certain. McGregor came out guns blazing just like he did throughout his promotional World Tour opposite Floyd Mayweather last year. The Irish star unveiled his motivation for coming back to battle ‘The Eagle’ before blaming his infamous UFC 223 bus attack on the Russian champ.

McGregor was also seen guzzling his brand-new Irish Whiskey Proper Twelve. So much so, in fact, that several onlookers among the wide reactions on social media thought he was overcompensating for perceived fear. The normally stoic Nurmagomedov had his own views of McGregor’s alcohol use, predictably choosing to stay focused on the fight. Buoyed at least in part by his own brand of the hard stuff, McGregor went off on a litany of personal topics from making death threats to ripping Khabib’s father.

Overall, it was a press event that was called the “darkest he’d ever been to” by UFC President Dana White. That’s saying a lot.

What’s In The Staredown?

So after the somber, strange UFC 229 presser, who is actually in whose head?

Fans seem to be torn down the middle on social media. They have their separate claims and justifications why McGregor or Khabib now holds the distinct mental advantage. Khabib and McGregor came face-to-face in the traditional UFC 229 presser staredown. Again Khabib was statuesque while McGregor as animated as always. Again people had polar opposite views on what that meant.

We knew McGregor would be looking to return with a bang. However, it may have seemed like he was trying too hard like he was during the final legs of his World Tour with Mayweather.

True, his whiskey will be one of the official sponsors of UFC 229. It’s a fine line to walk between focusing on promoting your new booze and fighting the man who many feel is the most dominant force in MMA right now. There’s the school of thought that McGregor is focused after staying out of the media until now.

We also knew Khabib would be as stoic as a rock. Trash talk has never been his forte or focus. He simply stared right through McGregor during the staredown. He’s done that with all of his previous opponents. Each opponent went down in a similar fashion, regardless of his perceived deficiencies in the cage. “The Eagle” appeared a bit miffed at McGregor’s comments at times; it’s true.

That could just serve to galvanize his resolve, however. That, of course, is the last thing McGregor needs. Overall, it just looked like McGregor was trying too hard as he was during the Brooklyn leg of his Mayweather tour.

If that comes back to bite him when they finally throw down, we’ll have to wait and see. Who – if anyone – is in whose head after the UFC 229 presser?

The post Who’s In Whose Head After UFC 229 Presser? appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

It’s time Conor McGregor reveals the real reason he came back to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov at October 6’s UFC 229 from Las Vegas, Nevada.

As expected, McGregor wasted little time getting the trash talk building with Khabib at today’s UFC 229 Press Conference from New York City. He dove right into why he was returning to shut up his rival champion Nurmagomedov after their highly-publicized beef in New York earlier this year.

McGregor claimed that Khabib cowered when faced with even numbers. He’s back for the love of war, and can’t wait to put a bad beating on ‘The Eagle’:

“I came back for the love of this. To come and shut this man up. A little rat, a little weasel, a little hard man in groups. I’ve met many of them through my years. A man who grows in numbers. But on his own and when confronted in a similar situation, cowers away.

And that’s what you saw with that little shite on the bus over there. He s*** his jocks after doing something to his own countrymen that nothing got to do with any of this. And that’s it. I came back for the love of fighting and the love of war and I am going to truly, truly love putting a bad, bad beating on this little glass-jaw rat!”

Friendship Gone Wrong

The media asked him about how his rivalry with Khabib began after the two were cordial in years past. To that, McGregor said Khabib was simply a fanboy who “bought his t-shirts.” The Dagestani then got cocky when an investor began pouring money into his gym according to the Irish former champ:

“Fanboy! The man was a fanboy. He bought t-shirts of mine. He f***** supported the cause. You remember that? You little fanboy, you little fanboy b****. He bought t-shirts to support the cause, nothing but respect. And then, and then, over in his neck of the woods, a man involved ins something, who is now in prison, Vladimir Putin locked him up for embezzling $150 million worth of money from the Russian people, started to invest and pump money into his gym. 

“So he started to grow in power, started to grow in power, started to gain this false power, started thinking he was a little hard man, tough guy. Then the s*** hit the fan with ya, man. He gets locked up and now there’s not a bean left. And now I’m here to put the nail in the coffin. That’s how it began. He was a fanboy. Thought he was a little hard man with some money like many people do. Money and numbers.”

McGregor held fast to his claim that Khabib wasn’t so tough on his own. He acknowledged that his team still supported him, but claimed the wildly popular current champion had actually been abandoned by his own people:

“Now the money’s gone, the numbers are still there, but trust me, his own countrymen, his own people, they wanna see him gone do. And I am gonna do it in the name of the Russian people.”

The post Conor McGregor Reveals Real Reason He Returned To Fight Khabib appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

It’s no secret that Khabib vs. Conor is going to be massive.

The anticipated lightweight title fight at UFC 229 on October 6 from Las Vegas is being billed as the biggest UFC bout of all-time. It’s even expected to surpass the heralded two million buy threshold on pay-per-view (PPV). That’s a level a UFC event has never attained.

McGregor’s short-notice fight with Nate Diaz set the record for PPV buys at 2016’s UFC 196 due to their heated build-up. That event brought in nearly 1.6 million buys. Khabib vs. Conor is expected to bring in much, much more according to Dana White.

The UFC President appeared on ESPN’s “Get Up” this morning (via MMA Fighting) to discuss the fight before today’s inaugural press conference. The presser will go down live from New York City and airs on ESPN. White revealed the monstrous PPV estimates that UFC 229 is trending at:

“It’s massive. There has been a lot of talk about this thing doing 2 million buys. We’re trending right now at 2.5 million buys so that’s how big this fight is. The biggest fight we’d ever done was Diaz vs. McGregor at almost 1.6 million pay-per-view buys. Then we did the Floyd Mayweather fight. And now this by far is the biggest fight and one of the biggest fights ever in combat sports to be honest with you.”

White’s job is obviously to sell fights. He’s often said whatever it takes to get that goal accomplished. However, UFC 229 is legitimately one of the biggest UFC bouts ever booked. His words may actually mean something here.

A Long-Awaited Return

The UFC has been anxiously awaiting McGregor comeback for two years. He set his rivalry with Nurmagomedov ablaze when he stormed the Barclays Center and got arrested. It was an insane scene that could work out for the UFC in the end. White admitted that the UFC overlooked certain things in order to get McGregor back in the cage:

“Conor works very well with us. We work well with him. There’s certain things you have to deal with Conor McGregor but he’s worth it. For example, the New York thing. The fact he thought he could come here and have this beef with Khabib in the middle of New York City and the way that it was done that was obviously the craziest thing. Normal, typical stuff for Conor is showing up an hour late for press conferences,”

The fight is trending to break the UFC record for PPV sales, yet it’s also a fight fans should cherish. McGregor made an insane amount of money to box Floyd Mayweather last year. His time in the cage (or ring) could be coming to an end soon.

McGregor has since spent his time enjoying that money. It’s not enough, White says, because of McGregor’s fighting spirit:

“I said this might be the last time you see Conor McGregor when you make his kind of money. He loves to fight. The reality is this — when you make a lot of money when you haven’t had money — you go out and buy a bunch of things, you take care of your family and do some fun stuff but it gets old real quick. It took Conor two years and here we are.”

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