Conor McGregor Resorted to the Dark Arts Against Khabib Nurmagamedov as he Desperately Tried to Survive…
In case you haven’t heard, there was a fight last weekend between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagamedov. Nurmagamedov won, putting on a dominant display that consolidated his status as the greatest lightweight champion on the planet. He’s truly a unique and special fighter.
It was excellent by Khabib who entered the fourth round having won the first two rounds, with the second scored 10-8 to the Russian by all three judges. McGregor would inflict the first round defeat of Khabib’s career in the third. Nurmagamedov would bounce back in the fourth, and win by rear-naked choke.
As a weary McGregor desperately tried to survive – especially during the brutal beating of the second round – he resorted to the dark arts, as he visibly cheated numerous times throughout the fight. Below is a compilation of all those moments where ‘The Notorious’ showed his nous – or true colors – depending on your point of view.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjZjz9YY48I
Dodgy
There were definitely some dodgy decisions by referee Herb Dean in the Octagon on Sunday morning. Some of the most obvious fouls committed by McGregor was when he repeatedly stuck his toes in fingers in the cage fence, as he tried to slow down Khabib’s effective wrestling.
McGregor also held the Russian’s shorts multiple times while ‘The Eagle’ lay on top of him. Khabib protests loudly to Dean, who did intervene at that point and ordered McGregor to let go of the Russian’s clothing. It was cynical of McGregor, but in fairness, he was getting outwrestled and outmanoeuvred, so we can look past these as they didn’t actually hurt him.
Dirty Shots
What we can’t look past are the dirty shots that McGregor threw from the ground. As he was incapable of matching Nurmagamedov on the ground – the guy is now 27-0 for a reason – he reacted in a vicious and dubious way. At one point he dropped a 12-6 elbow on the back of the Russian’s head. This is technically two fouls in one. The back of the head is an illegal target. Meanwhile, the 12-6 elbow (however stupidly) is banned and saw Jon Jones disqualified way back in 2009 against Matt Hammill.
That wasn’t the only nasty shot he threw from the ground. Another illegal technique he used was a knee on the ground which he tried to stick into Khabib’s head. Herb Dean did not even react to what was happening in front of him, despite the commentary team of Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Dominick Cruz picking up on it. Dubious tactics by McGregor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaCJfOT7jqQ
Recover
Now both men have to recover from the physical and psychological battles of UFC 229. Not only was it a brutal war in the octagon, but their hate-fuelled rivalry resulted in what will be one of the most notorious brawls in MMA history. It remains to be seen what consequences Khabib will face for starting it.
Meanwhile, McGregor is already pushing for a rematch with his Russian rival. His coach John Kavanagh has already told Joe Rogan that he would prefer him to fight Nate Diaz again first, but the momentum is still carrying this one. It’s not over yet.
