Khabib's retirement now official: McGregor gets one last jab in.

When Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement following his 29th straight victory, I had my doubts. I am always a bit suspicious of anyone's retirement since so many of them in the past have used this as a bargaining chip to get more money out of an organization than they are currently being paid. In the case of an undefeated lightweight champion that many consider to be the greatest pound-for-pound fighter the world has ever seen, I was very suspicious because his payday was not reflecting his rank - which unfortunately is a big part of the UFC.

McGregor on the other hand, will likely continue to cash the biggest checks that the sport has to offer thanks mostly (at least lately) to the mouth that this man has one him.

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Side note: Love that police officer standing there ominously... Like, WTF are you going to do if these 2 kick off? Unless he shot them he is only gonna get hurt

For me, it is easy to understand why Conor gets paid a lot more than everyone else: He is a living, walking, talking, hype machine. His self-promotion is unparalleled and all of his fights, even the ones that aren't for prestige like when he faced Cowboy Cerrone last January, pull in more pay-per-views than most of the major events where multiple belts are on the line.

Khabib on the other hand, and no offense to the man, is not so great at self promotion. However, this is something that plagues any of the non-native-English speaking members of the UFC. Sure, they are able to get their home countries all worked up, but they can't really create much in the way of hype when no one really understands what they are saying. Khabib is mild-mannered and I have always appreciated that, but being a nice guy doesn't exactly sell tickets or PPV's, unfortunately. He also, in my opinion is significantly less exciting to watch in the ring.

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Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking the guy. Obviously you don't get to 29-0 and the top of your division by not being effective, but guys who primarily grapple bore me even if they are the best at it. I realize this is a huge aspect of the sport, but winding down the clock is a major part of American football and I hate that too.

This is another reason why McGregor is a much bigger draw than anyone else: Love him or hate him, he always puts on a show, even when he loses.

So you could say that I am happy the McGregor is around, even though his comments kind of irritate me since we are starting to see diminishing returns on his once dominant octagon presence. Since going over to boxing for the payday that probably eclipsed all the money he has ever made in UFC all in one night, he hasn't been the same in UFC.

I am happy Conor is here, but his mouth irritates me and he could have kept it cool and just given a shout out to Khabib to congratulate him on his retirement and bid him godspeed but nah, that wouldn't be very McGregor-ish now would it?

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"Never forget who came in the game and made ye." ooh, that is arrogance at its finest is it not? But I suppose we should expect this from "The Notorious One." I'll also say that Khabib looks very different in that picture than he does now.

What was Conor's motivation in writing this? Almost certainly self-serving. At the moment Conor is kind of a non-issue as far as the belt in the lightweight division is concerned unless he can get back into the form he was in pre-boxing Mayweather. After a convincing loss to Poirier by TKO. Now the vacant belt competition is going to NOT be offered to Poirer, which I find a bit surprising and a bit not surprising.

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Why TF is the belt getting tossed to either the number 3 or 4 ranked guys in the division?

As much as us MMA fans want to believe that these divisions are about finding the best and getting them to the belt, UFC is a business that is primarily interested in making money and about MMA as a distant second.

Therefore, Michael Chandler, who only has 1 fight in the UFC (albeit an impressive one) will face Charles Oliveira for the belt and while it isn't official, it looks like UFC will want to make the Poirer / McGregor thing a trilogy. What about Gaethje? Nobody really cares i guess?

I think Conor could have done a lot different in the way of a sendoff for Khabib without being a dick,but I suppose that we should expect this from him.

Would you like to see Conor return to dominant form or are you happy with his fading away? Personally, I would like to see him have another run at the belt, and I am sure all the top brass at UFC feel the same way but for completely financial reasons.



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5 comments
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I feel gregor is just being too much. Though I do like him from his fight with mayweather and he did a good job there.

I think gregor is really too mouthed these days too and I would love him to go for the belt run again maybe that will get him back in the game like before .

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i think his last fight might have given him a big slice of "humble pie" and he's gonna need to turn up the heat if he wants to remain in his MVP position. I just wonder if he feels terribly motivated to do so. I mean, he doesn't need any more money and he should probably be concerned about retaining his legacy at this point. If he gets another "L" in his record - things could change a lot for the man who at one point was champion in two weight classes.

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(Edited)

I was a big fan of Conor during the Aldo era, it was magical to see him rising to the top, and was straight up inspiring. But he hasn't been relevant for a while now, we talked about that together, the whole "nice guy" Mcgregor is just a necessity after the shitstorm he created recently (punching old man, others misconduct accusations). I still think deep inside he hasn't recovered from his loss to Khabib, I still think that if he would go back to his karate stance and being an asshole, (because that's entertaining) he could have another run for the belt.

Against Gaethje it would be a great fight, I don't think Justin would take it to the ground, and the lead up could be very interesting!

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I still think that if he would go back to his karate stance and being an asshole, (because that's entertaining) he could have another run for the belt.

You nailed it there. I think he is aware of this as well. There is also some chatter about Cowboy throwing the fight back in January of 2020 but well, why would Cerrone do that?

I was a big fan of Conor during the Aldo era

I felt bad for Aldo after that fight... undefeated for a decade and lost in the first 20 seconds I want to say? Aldo hasn't been the same ever since either.

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Imagine the rage for Aldo. He was on the top of the world, then comes this cocky Irish dude that ruins everything, insult his country, family, culture...
Then get knocked out on the first punch haha you can't make this shit up. Unless...

Speaking of which, Cowboy took a dive for sure...

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