Wow.
Khabib Nurmagomedov put his unbeaten record on the line against Conor McGregor and it now reads 27-0 because Conor McGregor has been beaten in his return to the octagon.
After a two-year hiatus since his last fight in the UFC, the Dubliner returned to the UFC for the huge title showdown in Las Vegas and after tapping to Khabib, he was jumped by some of his opponents team in an act that Joe Rogan called ‘cowardly.”
After that famous version of The Foggy Dew brought the crowd to their feet, we knew that something special was brewing and both fighters didn’t disappoint.
Right from the off, McGregor went out on the attack but Khabib countered with a takedown and immediately tested McGregor’s defensive skills – especially at the legs.
After being pinned to the cage, Khabib landed his first blows of the contest as he trapped McGregor’s legs and drained his energy in the early stages.
The second round got off to the worst possible start for McGregor after Khabib landed a cracking right shot to his jaw and he followed this up by taking him to the mat and working him over with a series of pummelling right hands.
As Joe Rogan said, he’s not getting up “because he is exhausted and he is getting his face punched in.”
Khabib dropped Conor 😱
(Via @UFC)pic.twitter.com/tTngLjiPZ2
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 7, 2018
This was just a precursor of what’s to come as Khabib continued to smash McGregor with blow after blow but to his immense credit, with 30 seconds left on round two, McGregor got back to his feet and pushed back the tide of devastating punches.
As he went back to his corner, the Dubliner was actually smiling despite the fact that Khabib took round two.
10-8 round for Khabib? #UFC229 pic.twitter.com/CnfmQhdY6E
— UFC (@ufc) October 7, 2018
At the start of round three, both men traded blows as McGregor plotted to land that left punch but Khabib stood right in front of McGregor and continued to swap punches.
In what was an extremely close round, McGregor shaded it and continued to use his front-kicks until Nurmagomedov took him down to the mat yet again and tied his legs up.
After working his way around to McGregor’s back, Khabib applied the chokehold which made McGregor tap.
After the fight ended, all hell broke loose after Khabib jumped into the crowd and attacked someone in the crowd. After that happened, some of the Dagestanis teammates entered the octagon and confronted McGregor.
https://twitter.com/RealTalkMUFC/status/1048801568823304193
IT'S OVER!! KHABIB TAPS MCGREGOR!!
WOW!!! #UFC229
— UFC (@ufc) October 7, 2018
