Who is the Best Trash Talker in the Business? Khabib Nurmagamedov is Finding Out That Conor McGregor is Irrepressible, Even When He Doesn’t Do Promotion…
We’re less than three weeks out now from Conor McGregor v Khabib Nurmagamedov. The two fighters will compete for the lightweight title. It’s the belt that ‘The Notorious’ was stripped of, and that ‘The Eagle’ now holds
It’s without a doubt the single most anticipated MMA fight of all the year. McGregor has been inactive in MMA since November 2017. Before that, he was fighting an average of three times a year. Considering he earned a cool $100 million against Floyd Mayweather in boxing, we can cut him some slack.
His fight against the defending champion has been noticeable for its curious lack of promotion. Usually, for a McGregor event, there are multiple high-profile press-conferences and world tours. Nothing like that has happened so far, but a media event is planned for Thursday this week. Instead, both men have been using Instagram as their main means of promoting the fight. True to form, McGregor has been winning the online war.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnowVfEnCVi/?utm_source=ig_embed
‘Step By Step’
McGregor and Khabib’s rivalry reached it’s pinnacle in the fight week of UFC 223, back in April. Nurmagamedov and his crew surrounded and intimidated Artem Lobov, McGregor’s teammate, and training partner.
‘The Notorious’ decided that the best way to respond was to fly over 20 Irish goons on a private jet, get incredibly intoxicated, charge in the Barclay Center and throw things at the bus carrying the Russian.
Needless to say, he escaped without any punishment from the UFC, because he can literally do whatever he wants. The promotion of this one has already reached its peak.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnrtSYPHWxR/?utm_source=ig_embed
Subtle Troll
Earlier this week, Nurmagamedov posted a picture of himself sweating after a hard training session in his fight camp. The caption read: ‘Step by step’. You can see what he was going for, as he looked intense and dangerous.
McGregor demonstrated that while he might only be a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he’s definitely a black belt in self-promotion. He responded with a video of himself sparring a training partner in SBG Ireland. He responded in a subtly effective style:
‘Step by step you are getting stepped on.’
Going Down
UFC 229 draws ever closer. It takes place in Las Vegas on October 7, in the T-Mobile Arena. Tony Ferguson will fight Anthony Pettis in the co-main event. If the worst-case scenario arises and one or the other of the two headliners isn’t fit to compete, then ‘El Cucuy’ is on standby to fight for the title. He’s effectively training for three opponents.
Despite never defending a title in either the UFC or Cage Warriors, McGregor has never withdrawn from a fight during fight week or missed weight. Khabib has had issues in the past, but the acquisition of a nutritionist to his team appears to have solved that problem. Only a freak accident will stop this from going down.
