Morning Report: Conor McGregor argues he was beating Khabib Nurmagomedov until the submission

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Just over two years ago, at UFC 229, Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Conor McGregor to retain his UFC lightweight title. Nurmagomedov outlanded McGregor 70-59 in terms of significant strikes, knocked McGregor down once, scored three takedowns, had 12 minutes of control time on the ground, and submitted the former two-division world champion with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round. Most people consider the bout to be a dominant performance by Nurmagomedov, but then again, Conor McGregor is not most people.
On Monday, McGregor took to Twitter and spoke about his fight with Khabib, responding to fans and arguing that in actuality, he was beating Khabib up until he was submitted.
It should be noted that the knee McGregor appears to be referencing was an illegal knee to the head from the bottom in the second round. McGregor was not deducted a point for that blow but did lose the round 10-8 on all three judges’ scorecards.
Speaking of the judges, they disagreed with McGregor’s assessment of the fight. All three judges scored the first round for Khabib, who controlled McGregor for 4:08 of the five-minute round. McGregor though argues that he did more damage and thus deserves the round (according to UFC Stats, McGregor landed six significant strikes).
This is not the first time McGregor has attempted to downplay his defeat to Nurmagomedov. Immediately following the loss, McGregor was humble in defeat but as time wore on, McGregor has blamed the loss on both a lack of dedication and a foot injury. Now, McGregor appears to be inching towards a Chael Sonnen-esque, “I thought tapping out meant I lost the round” style stance.
McGregor has competed once since the loss to Khabib, knocking out Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January. He is rumored to be rematching Dustin Poirier early next year though. Khabib, meanwhile, submitted Poirier last year and is set to once again defend his title this weekend at UFC 254, this time against Justin Gaethje. Should both men be victorious in their fights, a rematch could be up next.

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[h=1]MUST-READ STORIES[/h]Retire. Khabib Nurmagomedov hints at magic number for retirement: ‘30-0 is going to be great’.
Rematch. Khabib Nurmagomedov: Conor McGregor rematch ‘makes sense’ at 155 – at 170, it’s ‘bye-bye’.
Respect. Brian Ortega reveals how past encounter with Alexander Volkanovski made him respect the UFC champ so much.
Return. Joanna Jedrzejczyk plotting return in 2021, but ‘I don’t see myself fighting without fans’.
Really upset. After UFC Fight Island 6 win, James Krause responds to ‘clown’ Joaquin Buckley: ‘He can get it too… easy work’.

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[h=1]VIDEO STEW[/h]UFC Embedded.


Dana White’s Lookin’ for a Fight.


Khabib vs. Poirier.


The best fights of Khabib.

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[h=1]LISTEN UP[/h]On to the Next One. Matchmaking for the UFC following UFC Fight Island 6.
The Co-Main Event. Discussing the brilliant performance of Brian Ortega and UFC 254.

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[h=1]SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE[/h]I seriously cannot believe the UFC is going to allow Cormier to work UFC 254.
Let’s go!
Freedom.
February does sound good.
This would be fun.
Tony with a great gif selection.
Confidence.
Big signing.

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[h=1]FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS[/h]Jake Hager (2-0) vs. Brandon Calton (2-0); Bellator 250, Oct. 29.
Tecia Torres (11-5) vs. Angela Hill (12-9); UFC 256, Dec. 12.

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[h=1]FINAL THOUGHTS[/h]Shout out to Alex K Lee for covering The Morning Report yesterday. He’s a real one. Go follow him on Twitter here.
Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow!

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[h=1]EXIT POLL[/h]

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