The rivalry between UFC fighters Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor is still in full effect, with both fighters recently trading insults on Twitter.
During the recent UFC 249 pre-fight press conference, Khabib Nurmagomedov argued that he would “eat” Tony Ferguson in a street fight. The argument led to Nurmagomedov losing his cool during a stare down with his future opponent, nearly booting Ferguson’s interim lightweight belt off the stage.
Since then, Nurmagomedov has commented on the incident, speaking to ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani. The undefeated Dagestani champion explained:
“Honestly, when I go to the press conference I think I want to be nice. You know I don’t want to go crazy. You know? But, when he talk about street fight, I go a little bit… A little bit crazy, yes.” Khabib Nurmagomedov explained. “Because this guy never fight in street. What are you talking about? Who? You know, I have a lot of fight in street. This guy never fight. Because in America, you cannot fight in street. But I grew up in Dagestan, everyday I fight in the street. You talk about street fight?
Because people don’t understand. Maybe people think I am like him from America. But I am not from America. You know? I am from Dagestan and we fight all the time here. Like in school, like in everywhere. Gym. Like I have a lot of fights in street and when he talk about street fight, I no understand. This guy never fight in street.” Nurmagomedov explained.
Conor McGregor had obviously watched the incident and responded to it on his official Twitter account, taking a dig at the UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov:
Khabib Nurmagomedov actually responded to the Irishman on his Twitter not long after, with a dig of his own:
McGregor continued the war of memes on Twitter against his former opponent with a one final dig:
The two met inside the Octagon at UFC 229 in October, 2019 in a battle for the UFC lightweight title. McGregor lost the bout via submission in the 4th round due to a neck crank. UFC president Dana White has recently stated that if Nurmagomedov is able to get past Ferguson at UFC 249, a rematch against the “Notorious” is on the cards next.
Nurmagomedov has protested the rematch on numerous occasions, stating that he believes McGregor does not deserve a rematch. His manager, Ali Abdelaziz recently stated that they would be willing to accept a rematch, if McGregor fought and won against top ranked lightweight contender Justin Gaethje.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 9th March, 2020.
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