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UFC superstar Conor McGregor made and retracted a bold claim about his biggest rival earlier this week. The 32-year-old busted into the comments section of one of ESPN’s Ariel Helwani’s posts on Instagram in which the journalist posted a video of Helwani and Daniel Cormier discussing UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov’s amazing ability to score takedowns.
McGregor took aim at Cormier’s praise of the champ by posting, “Daniel, Chill bro. I stuffed over half those takedowns on one foot. Kids trembling of a [rematch].
You can see a screenshot of the since-deleted comment below.
Pundits Were Discussing Potential Khabib vs. GSP Superfight
The two stalwart pundits were discussing on ESPN’s “DC and Helwani” the potential April 2021 superfight between Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre. While Helwani believes the 39-year-old Hall of Famer St-Pierre has a decent chance to upset Nurmagomedov, Cormier shot that idea down entirely.
The thing to which McGregor seems to have taken most issue with was that Cormier said there was nobody in the UFC’s 155, 170 or 185 divisions that could keep Nurmagomedov from taking them down to the mat.
Both Cormier and Nurmagomedov train at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, so it makes sense Cormier would respect the impressive skills of one of his best and most decorated training partners.
On top of that, Nurmagomedov is one of the most dominant champions in MMA history. The 31-year-old Russian mauler is undefeated across all promotions at 28-0.
Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor via fourth-round submission at UFC 229 in October 2018 in the best-selling UFC pay-per-view event in history.
McGregor Won’t Fight in UFC Anytime Soon
McGregor doesn’t appear to be heading back into the UFC’s Octagon anytime soon. Instead, the megastar appears to be on his way to a boxing ring again.
McGregor lost via 10th-round stoppage to Floyd Mayweather in August 2017. However, McGregor revealed earlier this year during his many media appearances for UFC 246 in January that he planned to try boxing again before his fighting career was over.
Now, McGregor’s plan to compete in a boxing match again seems to be on its way to becoming a reality.
The 32-year-old has all but formally announced his intention of facing WBC welterweight champion and 41-year-old boxing legend Manny Pacquiao in a crossover megafight, something the Irishman revealed back in January he had long been working on.
Moreover, McGregor’s Instagram feed has been littered over the last two months with pictures and videos of the fighter continuing to train as a boxer even though he just told the world he was retiring in June.
Regardless, McGregor seems to at least still have one eye on the UFC world and its fighters. If anything, that means he could be heading back to MMA action as early as 2021 once he’s finished with his boxing plans.
McGregor is the single biggest MMA star in the entire world, so most expect to see him back in a cage someday.
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