Beacon of feminism Conor McGregor has taken aim at Khabib Nurmagamedov’s teammate Islam Makachev on Twitter. The Notorious is definitely not known for cheating on his regular partner Dee Devlin, frequenting strip clubs and being caught up in sexual assault cases. Of course not.
So naturally, he’s well-placed to call out Machakev’s own sexism. The Russian took to Twitter after the jaw-dropping fight between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248. In short, they went to war in the greatest fight in the history of women’s MMA. However, Machakev made it clear that he thinks women shouldn’t be fighting.
Ever a champion of women’s rights, McGregor responded. He also used it as an opportunity to take aim at his arch-nemesis Khabib Nurmagamedov. The Irishman is desperate for a rematch with the lightweight champion. Check out his tweet below.
McGregor made his feelings clear in a vitriol filled tweet. He used Machakev’s statement to target Khabib. We don’t think they’ll be sending each other birthday cards anytime soon. He called the Russians ‘filthy rats’ and even described it as a ‘shame on the game.’ It’s not like he’s ever done anything to bring shame on the UFC before right? You’ve got to love the blatant hypocrisy. He wrote:
“An absolute cretin. A convicted steroid cheat that will do anything to avoid impact and stall a fight, and then talks down on one of the greatest exchanges of combat ever produced by our female combatants. These little gremlins! It’s back on. Filthy rats. Shame on the game.”
Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports
Rematch
Even though Khabib and his manager Ali Abdelaziz have said that there won’t be a rematch, it’s looking increasingly likely. But that means he’ll have to get past Tony Ferguson first. Don’t count El Cucuy out because he’s a unique and deadly foe. Ferguson is also excellent at rattling Khabib in a way that McGregor didn’t achieve. Khabib is suddenly more open to the fight but reasonably wants to concentrate on his immediate opponent.
“This guy [UFC president Dana White] is going to call me,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN. “He’s going to call me 100 per cent. Dana, please don’t call me. If you want, let’s go for dinner – but he’s going to call me. We’ll see. But let’s focus on Tony Ferguson right now.”
That’s probably a good idea because Ferguson is one of the most unorthodox and eccentric fighters on the roster. He’s also on the longest winning streak in the division.
Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports
Momentum
In short, it seems like McGregor is trying to drive up the momentum for a potential rematch. He hasn’t responded to a tweet by Nate Diaz last week. The chance remains that he could take on Justin Gaethje if necessary. It’s all about keeping it going and with new stars in the promotion he needs to keep winning.
Khabib won’t want to do him any favors though. Even if he beats Ferguson it’s still likely to be late October at the earliest before he’s ready to go again. That’s because he’s got to observe the Muslim festival of Ramadan during the summer. Add in whatever recovery and fight camp he requires and you’re looking at late October by the time he’ll be ready.
Of course, Ferguson could just come out and D’Arce all the UFC’s plans. We truly hope he does.
