MMA News: Conor McGregor looks back at UFC 229 brawl and teases rematch with Khabib
What's the story?
Conor McGregor has finally spoken in detail about the infamous brawl that followed his submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.
Having had many months to reflect on the clash, The Notorious has given his most detailed account yet of the incident during a recent interview with Tony Robbins.
Ever the self-promoter, McGregor even took the opportunity to hint at a potential rematch with Khabib.
In case you didn't know...
You could argue that the rivalry between McGregor and Nurmagomedov was inevitable. Both fighters soared to the very top of the lightweight division in the UFC, and given their braggadocios personas and tendency to talk trash, it was only a matter of time before their paths would cross.
However, their feud would become personal during the build up to UFC 223, when Nurmagomedov and his team surrounded McGregor’s friend and training partner, Artem Lobov.
This confrontation set off an ugly chain of events that culminated in the post-fight brawl between the fighters and their respective camps at UFC 229.
The heart of the matter
During a recent in-depth interview with motivational speaker Tony Robbins, McGregor finally gave his full account of the post-fight scenes at UFC 229…
“So what happened was, the fight was done, the match was done, he [Khabib] climbed over the fence and jumped into the crowd to make a bit of noise but as soon as he jumped into the crowd he cowered away. I like to call it ‘scurried away’ cause they’re little rats they are.”
“It’s a sport at the end of the day, a gruesome sport, but it’s a sport. So I respected it, I was defeated on the night.”
“He jumped in to cause this chaos and attack. I saw this take place, I got up off the ground and said ‘ok, now I’m back in the mix’, jumped on top of the cage, as I jumped on top of the cage, his brother came sprinting across and jumped on top of the cage also to climb in and help him. I seen him there and it was like a Christmas present. He was right there, I smacked him right in the eye-socket and we started fighting on top of the cage. It got broken up.
“We ended up in the cage then, he was trying to get past the security. I was just watching everything. I am very self-defense-minded through growing up. I know where my entrances and my exits are and I am very aware of my surroundings. When the fight was breaking out and I knew there were people in and out, there were a lot of rogue people and I wasn’t aware of who was with who, who was with security.”
“So I backed myself up against the cage wall, where I thought I was good. What happened was, two of his teammates ran and jumped over right behind me. For me, with my mind-set, it was fascinating for me to watch that back because I got to a safe place, I was good. I got to a place where I was aware and I could see any incoming threats and deal with it. They came right over my back, right over my back. The first one, the Chechen man, ran right out in front of me and went over to the brother who got smacked and was like ‘what happened’ and then turned back and saw me. But I had already saw him so as he turned back. Boom! I smacked him. He wobbled. As I smacked him and wobbled him, another one jumped over the back and he sly-hooked me from the side. I covered up.”
“That got separated and then the final one was the original brother who was on the top of the cage, he broke free from the security, ran at 100mph towards me.”
“He threw a right hand. As he threw that right hand I threw a left. Boom! There’s an image, an aerial image, of the right hand just whipping by my face and my left hand just landing flush down the pipe! The final blow of the night! That’s it. I win.”
What's next?
There is no secret, McGregor wants a rematch with Khabib and has been campaigning it for some time. He even took a moment during this interview with Robbins to hint at a potential rematch in the future…
gave my respect and congrats, he won the match – let’s see what happens next time. I’m confident we’ll get it again, let’s go again. I am humble in victory or defeat no matter what.”