He said the rivalry wouldn’t end with UFC 229, and it seems Conor McGregor is staying true to his word. On Sunday, the former two-division champion said of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov that he was “looking forward to the rematch.”
Conor McGregor found himself submitted for the second time in the UFC on Saturday night at UFC 229. The story should have ended there. It didn’t, as UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who won the pair’s main event fight, bafflingly elected to scale the octagon fence and attack McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis. McGregor, still recovering after the incident, eventually wound up attacked by several members of Nurmagomedov’s inner circle. While three men associated with the champion were arrested, UFC President Dana White later revealed that McGregor will not be pressing charges, and all three were released from custody.
At some point, there’s likely a very profitable rematch between the two to be made. McGregor’s takedown defense looked better than expected, though ultimately, he wilted under the pressure of ‘The Eagle,’ like so many before him. First, however, the Nevada State Athletic Commission will likely dole out punishment to Nurmagomedov. For the time being, they’ve withheld his fight purse.
On Sunday morning, however, McGregor seemed in good spirits. On Twitter, the fighter wrote that he was “looking forward to the rematch” after what he termed a “good knock.”
Good knock. Looking forward to the rematch.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 7, 2018
On Instagram, meanwhile, he added simply that “I’ll be back.”
If history provides any lesson, it’s that McGregor responds well to defeat. After being submitted by Nate Diaz at UFC 196, McGregor dauntlessly pursued a rematch, much to the dismay of his fellow featherweights, as his dalliance with Diaz held up the division. However, his efforts paid off: McGregor won the rematch with Diaz at UFC 202.
