Tag: UFC 229

Khabib: My Fight With McGregor Was Bigger Than MayMac

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov believes his UFC 229 main event with Conor McGregor was a bigger fight than the Irishman’s blockbuster boxing showdown with Floyd Mayweather. 2017 saw a collision billed as “The Money Fight” and “The Biggest Fight In Combat Sports History.” It pitted undefeated 11-time five-division boxing world champion Mayweather against […]

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Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov believes his UFC 229 main event with Conor McGregor was a bigger fight than the Irishman’s blockbuster boxing showdown with Floyd Mayweather.

2017 saw a collision billed as “The Money Fight” and “The Biggest Fight In Combat Sports History.” It pitted undefeated 11-time five-division boxing world champion Mayweather against former two-division UFC titleholder and then-155-pound king McGregor.

While the battle of boxing vs. MMA has essentially become a norm in today’s crossover culture, back then it was as historical as it was lucrative.

Following one of the most covered and notable international media tours and build-ups combat sports has ever seen, the pair shared the squared circle inside Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. After going nine rounds with the boxing GOAT contender, McGregor was finished in the 10th frame.

The numbers behind the clash were staggering. The contest grossed a remarkable $938 million, sitting in second on the all-time list behind only Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s 2015 match ($960 million). That feat certainly doesn’t need any more context, but here’s some anyway; the third highest-grossing fight (Mayweather vs. Canelo Álvarez – 2013) raked in $304 million, over $600 million less than ‘The Money Fight’.

With that number in mind, it’s no surprise where Mayweather vs. McGregor sits on the pay-per-view buys ladder. Once again second to only Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, the 2017 crossover fight jumped to the #2 spot after attracting 4.3 million buys, nearly two million more than the third-placed bout.

What did all that help secure? A reported $280 million purse for “Money” Mayweather and a $130 million boost for the “Notorious” McGregor.

Khabib: McGregor vs. Mayweather Was More “Fake”

While Mayweather vs. McGregor is widely regarded as one of, if not the, biggest fights of all time, one man shares a different sentiment.

Khabib Nurmagomedov, one of the leading contenders in the debate surrounding the greatest of all time in the UFC, believes his own grudge match with McGregor clearly surpassed Mayweather’s.

During an appearance on the Full Send Podcast, “The Eagle” cited the background to the UFC 229 main event and the memorable nature of the fight as the reasons why no other matchup comes close, especially not the “sparring” session between Mayweather and McGregor.

“For sure this is biggest fight in history of martial arts. Nothing close, I think,” said Khabib. “Even when he fight with Mayweather, it’s like, ‘OK.’ But not many people care about this fight. It was historical event: MMA champion vs. boxing champion. 

“But inside the fight, many people, they don’t even remember what happened inside the fight. For example, in what round referee stop this fight? Most of the people don’t remember,” continued Khabib. “They don’t remember because it was like sparring fight. For me, it was not real fight because (McGregor) is not real boxer. And Mayweather, what he did—for me, it was like more fake fight. This just my opinion, maybe not.

“And then what was between us, it was real. And everything (that) happened before the fight, inside the fight, after the fight (was real),” concluded Khabib.

Whether for positive or negative reasons, UFC 229 was undoubtedly one of the most memorable events in UFC history.

From the pre-fight exchanges, which saw McGregor attack Khabib’s family, religion, and country, to the fight itself, which saw the Dagestani extend his unbeaten record with a fourth-round neck crank submission, to the post-fight brawl, it’s hard to forget what transpired on October 6, 2018.

While it attracted 2.4 million PPV buys, leaving daylight to the UFC’s second-highest tally in that regard, can it be regarded as “bigger” across all aspects than Mayweather vs. McGregor? It’s certainly an interesting debate to have.

Do you agree with Khabib Nurmagomedov?

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Khabib Nurmagomedov Blames Conor McGregor For UFC 229 Brawl

Khabib Nurmagomedov Conor McGregorKhabib Nurmagomedov has claimed that a lacklustre performance from Conor McGregor is what led to the brawl following their long-awaited matchup. Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed what was his biggest win to date following his submission victory over the Irishman in the fourth round. There hadn’t been a feud to this level in the UFC before, so […]

Khabib Nurmagomedov Conor McGregor

Khabib Nurmagomedov has claimed that a lacklustre performance from Conor McGregor is what led to the brawl following their long-awaited matchup.

Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed what was his biggest win to date following his submission victory over the Irishman in the fourth round. There hadn’t been a feud to this level in the UFC before, so it was no surprise things spilt over after the match was done resulting in both teams and their fighters getting into a mass brawl.

Khabib spoke on the Full Send Podcast about why everything happened the way it did.

“First of all, I was preparing for war. I come inside the cage, I fight with this guy, and he tapped, I’m like, ‘Why I come here? Why I train so hard for this?

“You’re going to tap easily like this?’ I just take his chin, you know, and he tapped. This one makes me upset too, you know, because I accept more than what I find inside the cage… I remember someone from his corner said something and it was crazy emotional.

Khabib Nurmagomedov Reflects On McGregor Brawl

Although Khabib blames McGregor’s disappointing performance as the catalyst in this all, having moved forward in his life Khabib recognised how he was caught up in the moment and how emotions got the better of him.

“I’m not going to say I am proud of something like this, at the age of 33-years-old I can say I wouldn’t have jumped into the crowd now.

“I am like ‘okay this party is not finished’. I don’t really remember but who cares, I think he was happy because what would have happened if the referee wasn’t there? “They never asked to fight again, there was no reason to make the rematch after he tapped out in four rounds.” (Transcribed by Mirror.co.uk)

Having both received substantial fines post-event, both men would go their separate ways with Khabib Nurmagomedov going onto make two more title defences against Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje before heading up his brand-new promotion Eagle FC with the company already making a successful U.S debut in January.

McGregor would make a successful return against Donald Cerrone in January 2020 before dropping two back-to-back against Dustin Poirier and picking up a severe injury which will leave him side-lined till mid-2022.

Who was at fault for the UFC 229 Brawl?

Archives: White Disagrees With ‘Harsh’ Punishment For Khabib (2019)

The following article was published on this day three years ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives. On This Day Three Years Ago… [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 30, 2019, 1:16 PM] Archives: Dana White Disagrees With ‘Harsh’ Punishment Handed Down to Khabib Nurmagomedov Author: Damon Martin […]

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The following article was published on this day three years ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.

On This Day Three Years Ago…

[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 30, 2019, 1:16 PM]

Archives: Dana White Disagrees With ‘Harsh’ Punishment Handed Down to Khabib Nurmagomedov

Author: Damon Martin

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced to pay a $500,000 fine for his role in the infamous post-fight brawl that he initiated following his win over Conor McGregor last October.

Just seconds after Nurmagomedov secured a fourth-round rear-naked choke finish, he leaped over the cage to go after McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis, who was working in his corner for the fight.

Chaos ensued immediately afterwards but security quickly contained the ugly incident but the commission wasn’t going to let it go without handing down some stiff penalties for everybody involved.

Nurmagoemdov was dinged with the $500,000 fine and a six-month suspension assuming he completes an approved anti-bullying public service announcement for the state of Nevada. Meanwhile, McGregor was hit with a $50,000 fine and a six-month suspension and both fighters should be eligible to return after April 6.

UFC president Dana White has definitely gone back and forth with the Nevada Commission in the past over certain decisions that have been made and in this case, he believes Nurmagomedov got a raw deal when it comes to his punishment for the brawl.

“I was obviously surprised by how much they put on Khabib,” White told ESPN on Wednesday. “You’ve got a half-a-million dollars and six months [suspension] if he does some [public service announcements]. What he did was wrong, he jumped out, we had the whole thing contained in seconds.

“I don’t know. It was a little harsh in my opinion but it is what it is.”

The commission also took exception to the excessing amount of trash talking between Nurmagomedov and McGregor that led to their fight at UFC 229.

As personal as things may have gotten, the fight ended up as the biggest UFC pay-per-view of all time while the promotion put out a study earlier this week showing more than $86 million in revenue was generated for the city of Las Vegas by that single event.

White obviously doesn’t agree with trying to police what the fighters are saying to each other in the lead up to a fight, especially when it oftentimes leads to the biggest rivalries in the history of the sport.

“Here’s the thing — it’s a fight. At the end of the day, it’s a fight,” White said. “Sometimes you come across people that don’t like each other and there’s a lot of bad blood. That was the case in this fight. This is what we do. This is the fight business. These guys are talking about fighters saying mean things to each other and all this other stuff.

“If you break it down and go back to when [Muhammad] Ali fought [Joe] Frazier and you look at the times when that happened, the stuff that he said about Frazier and saying to Frazier was horrible. Horrible things that you don’t say to somebody else back then.”

It’s tough to imagine the Nevada commission actually attempting to curb trash talk before a fight but either way they definitely made Nurmagomedov pay for his choices after the fight was over.

Through his manager Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov has reportedly stated that he will no longer fight in Nevada as a result of this harsh penalty.

Was the Nevada commission wrong to fine Khabib Nurmagomedov so much money? Sound off in the comments and let us know! 

Continue Reading Archives: White Disagrees With ‘Harsh’ Punishment For Khabib (2019) at MMA News.

Makhachev Revisits & Explains Khabib’s UFC 229 Post-Fight Meltdown

UFC lightweight contender Islam Makhachev has looked back on the post-fight brawl between his teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor’s corner at UFC 229.

The 2018 pay-per-view certainly delivered on the bad blood between McGregor and …

Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC lightweight contender Islam Makhachev has looked back on the post-fight brawl between his teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor’s corner at UFC 229.

The 2018 pay-per-view certainly delivered on the bad blood between McGregor and Khabib. Unfortunately, it did so more than we could ever have imagined or desired. What started as one of the most anticipated headliners in MMA history, quickly deteriorated into its biggest blemish, an out-of-control brawl inside and outside the Octagon.

In front of a sold-out crowd in Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, “The Eagle” defended his UFC Lightweight title for the first time. He did so by way of a fourth-round neck crank submission. However, McGregor’s pre-fight trash talk had gotten out of hand, with the Irishman constantly attacking the Dagestani’s family, religion, and country. With that in mind, the action unsurprisingly didn’t end once the fight was stopped.

Makhachev Says Khabib Was “Pushed To The Limit”

While Khabib jumped the cage to attack McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis, members of the champion’s team scampered around the cage to get involved, with some even entering it to get their hands on McGregor. Along with Zubaira Tukhugov and Asadulla Emirgaev, current top-five UFC lightweight Islam Makhachev was one of the individuals involved in the skirmish.

Now, speaking at the UFC 267 post-fight press conference, the 30-year-old has revisited the incident. Discussing what made Khabib react the way he did after defeating his bitter rival, Makhachev suggested McGregor crossed the line prior to the fight. With the constant verbal attack on close areas of his life, Makhachev believes the former UFC lightweight champion was simply overwhelmed with emotion.

“There is a limit to everything. If somebody crosses that line, you can’t control yourself anymore. In that moment, he was pushed to the limit, he was overwhelmed by emotions and suddenly saw the man talking all that crap, and… He just could not hold himself. Anybody, not just me or Khabib. The thing is, we are not faking stuff or trash talking. We do not play games. If we seem to not like somebody, we do not like him for real.” (h/t Sportskeeda)

Despite Dana White’s threats to suspend and remove those involved from the roster, Khabib’s promise to walk away from the UFC should that happen kept his teammates in the promotion. Now over three years later, both Makhachev and Tukhugov were successful at UFC 267 last month.

Do you agree with Islam Makhachev? Did Conor McGregor cross the line with his pre-fight trash talk?

Continue Reading Makhachev Revisits & Explains Khabib’s UFC 229 Post-Fight Meltdown at MMA News.

[ARCHIVES] McGregor Breaks Down Khabib Loss Round By Round

[MMA NEWS ARCHIVES] Two years ago, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor took part in the most successful UFC event of all time, UFC 229. The build-up was contentious, and the outcome was decisive. Here is a story of how Conor McGregor reacted to his loss to Khabib two weeks later. The following article is presented […]

Continue Reading [ARCHIVES] McGregor Breaks Down Khabib Loss Round By Round at MMA News.

[MMA NEWS ARCHIVES]

Two years ago, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor took part in the most successful UFC event of all time, UFC 229. The build-up was contentious, and the outcome was decisive. Here is a story of how Conor McGregor reacted to his loss to Khabib two weeks later. The following article is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of the MMA News archives.

[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 23, 2018, 8:55 AM] 

Conor McGregor has suffered his second defeat inside the UFC Octagon. “The Notorious” made his highly-anticipated return to the cage earlier this month (Sat. October 6, 2018). He challenged Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight title he once held. However, “The Eagle” submitted the Irishman via fourth-round submission.

After the fight, McGregor has declared his desires for an immediate rematch. Given how dominant Khabib’s performance was, however, it’s hard to argue a rematch is needed. McGregor hasn’t offered an elaborate statement on the loss since the fight, but that all changed last night. “Mystic Mac” took to Instagram last night and offered a lengthy round-by-round breakdown of the contest.

McGregor Breaks Down Khabib Loss

Here’s what McGregor had to say:

“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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

“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.

“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”

What do you think about McGregor’s breakdown of his loss to Khabib?

Continue Reading [ARCHIVES] McGregor Breaks Down Khabib Loss Round By Round at MMA News.

Khabib Reveals UFC 229 Meltdown Due To Disappointment In McGregor

Former UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has revealed why he chose to attack Conor McGregor’s corner in the aftermath of the UFC 229 headliner. In the highest-selling UFC pay-per-view of all time, Khabib dominated his arch-rival in the…

Former UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has revealed why he chose to attack Conor McGregor’s corner in the aftermath of the UFC 229 headliner. In the highest-selling UFC pay-per-view of all time, Khabib dominated his arch-rival in the main event, before sparking an unforgettable post-fight brawl. After forcing the division’s former champion to tap just […]

Continue Reading Khabib Reveals UFC 229 Meltdown Due To Disappointment In McGregor at MMA News.