“Don’t touch each other, please.”
Dana White had every right to be concerned when Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov came face-to-face for the first time as opponents.
The last time McGregor and Nurmagomedov were in attendance at a UFC-organised event, several bus windows were smashed by the Irishman at Brooklyn’s Barclays Centre.
Footage of the infamous attack in April is now being used to promote the UFC 229 headliner, which will see McGregor take to the Octagon for the first time in almost two years.
McGregor gave it his all when it came to the verbal sparring at Thursday’s press conference as he called Nurmagomedov’s courage, integrity and loyalty into question.
And when it came to the intense staredown, which was interrupted by Nurmagomedov’s controversial manager Ali Abdelaziz, McGregor was as observant as ever.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn9_ITQnX2J/?taken-by=danawhite
In an audio clip of what was said in the face-off, ‘The Notorious’ can be heard commenting on Nurmagomedov’s appearance.
“I’m not going to touch him but let’s get face to face. Let’s get close so we can look into the eyes, kid,” McGregor said.
“You’re dead, mate. You’re dead. You’re dead.
“I can see blue lips. Blue lips!
“Where’s my belts? Blue lips! Breathe, kid. Take a breath!”
Nurmagomedov, whose track record of pulling out of fights with injuries was also mentioned by McGregor earlier in the press conference, will put his undefeated record on the line against McGregor on October 6.
The pair won’t meet again until fight week and we could well get one last press conference to hype the lightweight fight which is expected to be the biggest in UFC history.
Having clearly done his research before Thursday night, we wonder what McGregor is keeping in his back pocket for the next round of psychological warfare.
