Conor McGregor gives detailed account of UFC 229 brawl, calls for Khabib rematch

Shortly after Conor McGregor was defeated by Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 229, a wild brawl began between his and the Russian’s teams.

Punches were thrown inside and outside of the Octagon, and this chaotic scene resulted in suspensions and fines for all parties involved.

Months removed from the fact, Conor McGregor has given perhaps his most honest account of this wild skirmish yet. He did so in an interview with motivational speaker Tony Robbins, peppering in a quick call for a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov:

“So what happened was, the fight was done, the match was done,” McGregor began (transcript via Pundit Arena). “He [Khabib] climbed over the fence and jumped into the crowd to make a bit of noise but as soon as he jumped into the crowd he cowered away. I like to call it ‘scurried away’ cause they’re little rats they are.

“I gave my respect and congrats, he won the match – let’s see what happens next time. I’m confident we’ll get it again, let’s go again. I am humble in victory or defeat no matter what.

“It’s a sport at the end of the day, a gruesome sport, but it’s a sport. So I respected it, I was defeated on the night.”

Conor McGregor continued:

“He jumped in to cause this chaos and attack. I saw this take place, I got up off the ground and said ‘ok, now I’m back in the mix’, jumped on top of the cage, as I jumped on top of the cage, his brother came sprinting across and jumped on top of the cage also to climb in and help him. I seen him there and it was like a Christmas present. He was right there, I smacked him right in the eyesocket and we started fighting on top of the cage. It got broken up.

“We ended up in the cage then, he was trying to get past the security. I was just watching everything. I am very self-defense-minded through growing up. I know where my entrances and my exits are and I am very aware of my surroundings. When the fight was breaking out and I knew there were people in and out, there were a lot of rogue people and I wasn’t aware of who was with who, who was with security.

“So I backed myself up against the cage wall, where I thought I was good. What happened was, two of his teammates ran and jumped over right behind me. For me, with my mindset, it was fascinating for me to watch that back because I got to a safe place, I was good. I got to a place where I was aware and I could see any incoming threats and deal with it. They came right over my back, right over my back. The first one, the Chechen man, ran right out in front of me and went over to the brother who got smacked and was like ‘what happened’ and then turned back and saw me. But I had already saw him so as he turned back. Boom! I smacked him. He wobbled. As I smacked him and wobbled him, another one jumped over the back and he sly-hooked me from the side. I covered up.”

Conor McGregor continued, proudly proclaiming that he scored the final blow of the night:

“That got separated and then the final one was the original brother who was on the top of the cage, he broke free from the security, ran at 100mph towards me.

“He threw a right hand. As he threw that right hand I threw a left. Boom! There’s an image, an aerial image, of the right hand just whipping by my face and my left hand just landing flush down the pipe! The final blow of the night! That’s it. I win.”

What do you think of this account from Conor McGregor?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/21/2019.