There was always going to be plenty of talk in the Octagon in the main event of UFC 229.
Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov are two of the most vocal fighters in UFC history and both vowed to speak to the other when the door shut and they were locked inside along with referee Herb Dean.
Nurmagomedov has made a habit of destroying opponents’ confidence by talking to them, their corner and UFC President Dana White while unleashing smothering beatdowns.
Saturday night was no different and the undefeated Russian could be heard saying “Let’s talk now” as he overwhelmed McGregor with ground and pound.
In the build-up to the UFC 229 main event, ‘The Notorious’ predicted that he would be dominating the dialogue in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
“I am going to maul him and then let’s see who’s doing the talking, let’s see who’s having a conversation in there,” McGregor said last week.
By the time McGregor tapped out to a neck crank in the fourth round, he was officially down 29-27 on the judges’ scorecards and in need of a finish.
And after the third round, which was the only one won by the Irishman, microphones picked up an interesting comment from McGregor.
McGregor: “It’s only business.” Khabib: “Guess so.” from r/ufc
Viewers believe that the Dubliner said “It’s only business” after the buzzer sounded, presumably referencing his pre-fight trash talk with which Nurmagomedov took such umbrage.
McGregor has been accused of crossing lines in his attempts to hype the fight, which is expected to smash the previous pay-per-view buy-rate record when official figures are released.
The post-fight headlines have been dominated by the melee which marred the event as Nurmagomedov jumped out of the Octagon to confront McGregor’s team while three members of Nurmagomedov’s camp rushed the cage to attack McGregor.
Speaking in his post-fight press conference, Nurmagomedov said: “I don’t want people talking shit about opponents, talking shit about fathers or religion. You cannot talk about religion or nations. Guys, you cannot talk about this stuff and, for me, this is very important.”
