Conor McGregor was as natural, nasty and a pure, snarling Dubliner at the first UFC 229 press conference.
The Radio City Hall showdown between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov was carried out in front of media members but, for safety reasons, the gen-pop was kept out. It made for an odd atmosphere but some of McGregor’s better remarks still drew gasps and laughs.
There were only around four or five decent verbal jabs landed but ‘The Notorious’ succeeded in drawing the UFC lightweight champion out of himself and provoking some angry reactions.
The rest of the press conference was a glorified advertisement for McGregor’s new whiskey venture and bickering that reminded some of a bitter, divorced couple arguing over who emptied the dishwasher most during their torrid years together.
McGregor often, oddly leaned on the phrase ‘Shit on the bus’ and spat that one at Nurmagomedov constantly. He declared:
“I came back for the love of this, to shut this man up. This rat; this weasel!
“A man who grows in numbers but when confronted on his own cowers away, that’s what you saw on the bus. He s*** his jocks. I came back for the love of fighting and the love of war. I am going to enjoy putting a beating on this glass-jawed rat.”
McGregor was at his best with his off-the-cuff responses but this was far, far from the tour-de-force of Toronto, when he slayed school-bag carrying Floyd Mayweather Jr. in front of a baying crowd.
McGregor invariably, amid the madness, leaves his mark. Before he defeated Jose Aldo, feet on the table, he boasted:
“I own this town, I own Rio de Janeiro, so for him to say that he is the king and I am the joker, if this was a different time, I would invade his favela on horseback, and would kill anyone who wasn’t fit to work. But we’re in a new time, so I’ll whoop his ass instead.”
In February 2016, he landed a gem on Nate Diaz – “He makes gun signs with the right hand and animal balloons with the left hand” – but found that Stockton nut hard to crack. He got over Diaz second time out and there was clear respect between the men after UFC 202. Not so for Eddie Alvarez.
In September 2016, seven weeks out from becoming light- and featherweight champion, McGregor declared:
“I’m going to toy with this man. I will rearrange his facial structure. His wife and kids won’t recognize him again. His friends will know he’s not the same after this contest… You’re never, ever going to be the same. Your kids are going to beg, ‘Daddy, please don’t go again!’“
On Thursday, in New York, we were left waiting for a memorable line and McGregor delivered two. He was always going to pick at Nurmagomedov’s record and suggest, as many have, that he has not been truly tested. That his 26-0 record is padded. The 30-year-old proclaimed:
“Now, you’
re up on the real shit kid, you’re with the real dogs now… Your fake belt over there, you beat the guy ranked No.11, a real estate agent. You bring that belt up on stage like it’s a real belt? You’re a phoney, a fake and I’m going to expose you. You’re going to be smoked on October 6 and I am going to love every second of it.”
In return, McGregor was always going to get asked about how he will stack up to the expert wrestling and grappling of ‘The Eagle’.
Again, he was ready and what made this response better is it was completely unscripted.
“Wrestling?!” he scoffed.
“You’re going to be wrestling my knuckle out of your orbital bone.”
It was not one of McGregor’s best performances on the microphone but he got us all talking again and got under his opponent’s skin.
It’s as if he was never away.
