Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov: Every time the Dagestani got the better of the Irishman on the mic!
The build-up to Khabib Nurmagomedov taking on Conor McGregor was one of the most heated in MMA history. We saw a bus being attacked and plenty of controversial comments.
However, despite English not being his first language, 'The Eagle' largely held his own on the microphone against the witty Irishman.
Nurmagomedov's cold and calm demeanor added to the sinister delivery of many of his responses to McGregor's trash-talking attempts. One instance was when the Russian made 'Notorious' leap out of his chair after the former undefeated lightweight champion stated he was going to "smash" the Irishman.
An irate McGregor said:
"Smash me mate, smash me!"
In response, a calm and seated Nurmagomedov stated:
"I can smash you."
Watch the UFC 229 press conference here:
When McGregor tried to brag about his fruitful boxing bout against Floyd 'Money' Mayweather, the Russian quickly interrupted:
"I'm gonna put him back to box. I'm gonna, I'm gonna put him back to boxing! You have to fight only box because you can't compete with high-level guys who have wrestling."
A now hyped-up Khabib Nurmagomedov followed up the statement by saying:
"Your wrestling is zero, your grappling is zero. I'm gonna maul you."
The champ @TeamKhabib speaks on the #UFC229 main event.
Listen in ⬇️ https://t.co/SXJW0Xe37B
Another time where one of Conor McGregor's lines backfired was when the Irishman stated that 'The Eagle' was "tapping on the window" to get off the bus when 'Notorious' attacked it. This led Khabib Nurmagomedov to point out that McGregor had tapped inside the cage before:
"What are you talking about? What are you talking about? You tap three four time, you tap four time. You tap like chicken! You tap like chicken four time!"
Khabib Nurmagomedov explains why he didn't mention Conor McGregor when being inducted into the UFC's Hall of Fame
Earlier this month, Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov were both inducted into the Modern Wing of the UFC's Hall of Fame. The two spoke on ESPN after the show.
Cormier couldn't understand why 'The Eagle' didn't mention the UFC 229 fight between himself and the Irishman. The pay-per-view event is the largest selling in the company's history and was arguably the biggest fight of Nurmagomedov's career.
While speaking to 'DC', the Russian stated:
"Already whole world was watching this fight. People talk about something like when they want to promote. Like, this fight become bigger than our sport, bigger than MMA, bigger than UFC. Like all the time talk about this I don't like to be honest."
Watch the conversation between 'DC' and 'The Eagle' here:
However, Khabib Nurmagomedov did go on to say that his UFC 229 win over Conor McGregor was one of the best moments of his professional MMA career. Furthermore, he feels that the sport of MMA grew after the notoriety the bout received.