“He f***ed up.”
Conor McGregor was, according to his coach John Kavanagh, livid with himself for some technical mistakes in his UFC lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. As for Kavanagh himself, he regretted sending his fighter in to ‘not lose’, rather than to win.
McGregor did remarkably well to remain calm and focused despite an early takedown in the first but was forced to survive an onslaught in the second, before rising back to his fight under extreme pressure and to an Olé, Olé, Olé chorus.
It is widely regarded that the Dubliner claimed the third round but Nurmagomedov took advantage of his tiring opponent in the fourth, took McGregor’s back, applied the neck crank and forced the submission.
Fans, pundits and former UFC fighters reached a common consensus that Nurmagomedov was clearly winning the contest before he got his submission. One leading UFC correspondent did not see it the same way, and it was all based on that first round.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN believes McGregor and Nurmagomedov were tied at 28-28 heading into the fateful fourth. That has sparked a fevered response but it cannot be denied that McGregor battled his way back into the mix until fatigue and Nurmagomedov’s constant switch-ups caused his downfall.
McGregor created some UFC history, on October 6, by taking a round off ‘The Eagle’. It was the first time in the Dagestani’s 11 UFC fights that he ever lost a round.
Okamoto felt McGregor was never in serious trouble in that first round, despite his being taken down by his opponent’s ankle-grab. In terms of significant strikes, in that round, Nurmagomedov landed 7 of 9 attempts. McGregor landed 6 of 7.
McGregor did stuff another Nurmagomedov takedown attempt but the champion passed guard once in that round. To our mind, Nurmagomedov shaded it. Okamoto gave the round to McGregor and (as you can see below) had the score level going into round four.
10-9 Conor McGregor.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 7, 2018
R2, 10-8 for Khabib Nurmagomeodv. I have it 19-18 Khabib. I know most had first round for Conor, but I thought Khabib did no significant strikes after takedown.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 7, 2018
28-28
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 7, 2018
Discussing the 28-28 call on ‘The A Side’, Shaun Al-Shatti said, “I can’t talk for Brett but I had Conor losing the first round and losing the second round 10-8. I had him winning the third round… so heading into the ultimate, final round makes it 29-27.”
Marc Raimondi, his colleague, added, “Brett is a colleague of ours and we’re not going to bury the guy, but he f**ked up. It happens; whatever.”
McGregor has yet to give his take on how he saw the fight going down but he will surely be heartened by a leading MMA writer and presenter stating he was right in there, and level on the scorecards, until that fourth round.
