The Notorious has broken his silence.
Conor McGregor has made his first public statement in the hours following his defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 229.
McGregor tapped out to the Lightweight Champion in the fourth round in Las Vegas, before all kinds of chaos broke out.
Nurmagomedov, to put it mildly, lost the plot and scaled the Octagon cage and charged at Dillon Danis – McGregor’s teammate – as security struggled to control the situation.
McGregor was subsequently absent from the post-fight press conference, where Khabib laid blame squarely at the door of the Dubliner.
“I’m a human being and I don’t understand why people are talking about why I jumped on the cage,” said Nurmagomedov.
“What about when he talks about my religion, he talks about my region, he talks about my country, he talks about my father. He came to Brooklyn and broke the bus and almost killed a couple of people. What about this shit?
“Why are people talking about the moment I jumped over the cage? I don’t understand. I have respect. My father taught me that you must always have respect. Everyone who knows me, they know who I am.”
As the dust continues to settle a handful of hours later, Conor McGregor has taken to Twitter to issue a short, decisive statement.
Good knock. Looking forward to the rematch.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 7, 2018
“Good knock,” he said. “Looking forward to the rematch.”
Succinct, straightforward and not shocking in the least, really.
Given the chaos that unfolded at the conclusion of the fight, many speculated that it was a calculated business move in order to all but guarantee that these two face off again.
Despite a fairly one-sided fight, McGregor may well argue that he was the first man to take a round from Khabib, and controversy hasn’t exactly hurt him before, so watch this space…
