Khabib Nurmagomedov appeared alongside ESPN journalist Brett Okamoto and shared his thought on Conor McGregor in the aftermath of UFC 264. The former lightweight champion shared a bitter rivalry with McGregor and both the fighters have never stopped at jumping on the first chance they get to ridicule each other.
Earlier, in the lead-up to the fight, McGregor had said that he believes Khabib has done nothing for the sport, and scurried away after getting three legitimate wins inside the Octagon, namely against McGregor himself, Justin Gaethje, and Dustin Poirier. Reacting to the same, here’s what Khabib had to say.
“Like Dustin said, it’s just noise. He’s not him. It was fake Conor. That’s my opinion. A couple of months ago, we see how he was nice. Now he tried to be different, it looked fake. That’s why this trash talk didn’t work on Dustin Poirier. In my opinion, it was his big mistake.”
A few clips from today’s interview with Khabib Nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib). We covered a lot of ground, some of which, of course, included Conor McGregor’s last week/weekend. pic.twitter.com/8LtJKHV95Q
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 13, 2021
McGregor is known for his trash-talk in the lead-up to the fight and has always used it to get a mental edge over his opponents. However, a recent row of losses has many made believe that McGregor just isn’t the same fighter he used to be. While one can argue that it didn’t help him going into the trilogy fight, it’s too tough to come to a conclusion looking at how the fight ended.
Conor McGregor broke his tibia in the closing moments of the first round, suffering a Doctor’s stoppage loss in the hugely anticipated trilogy bout inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas at UFC 264.
McGregor’s sudden change of attitude from the rematch to the trilogy fight can be compared to Poirier calling out McGregor for not standing true to his words to donate $500,000 to Dustin Poirier’s charity.
Has Conor McGregor changed?
It will be too far etched a thing to confirm about a fighter who has always relied on personal attacks during his trash-talk to gain a mental edge over his opponents in the lead-up to fight. It won’t be wrong to say that not a lot has changed for McGregor who continues to do the same even today.
However, it’s McGregor’s ability to not walk the talk that has made many questions about his skillset and his approach inside the Octagon and in the lead up to a fight.
Also Read: Jolie Poirier Supports Lifetime UFC Ban for Conor McGregor After His Death Threats at UFC 264
