In what was arguably the most anticipated bout in the history of the UFC, Khabib Nurmagomedov retained his lightweight championship against Conor McGregor at UFC 229 via fourth-round submission, but Khabib was not satisfied with that outcome (translation via MMANytt).
“When he tapped out, I was disappointed,” Nurmagomedov said via a translator. “Let me explain why, because when you have a worthy opponent it’s really nice. It feels good to fight your opponent.
“He had so many thousands of people who flew in and came to support him. You shouldn’t tap out. You should fight to the end.”
With all the hype surrounding the event and the animosity that festered within Nurmagomedov as McGregor unleashed a verbal assault on the champion that only he could doing the press conferences leading up to the event, Khabib envisioned deriving more satisfaction from the fight. He also took notice that all of McGregor’s talking came to an abrupt end when the two were locked in the cage together:
“After so much preparation I think it is unworthy,” Nurmagomedov said of the fashion the UFC 229 main event concluded. “There should be some closure. I had this kind of frustration.
“I talked in the normal way, you saw that. He, I don’t know, maybe he forgot his tongue at home because he didn’t talk much.
“He didn’t respond. He was unwilling to talk and unwilling to compromise.
“I talked to him and, well, he said ‘it’s only business,’ but I did not see him after the fight.”
What your thoughts on these comments from Khabib regarding the UFC 229 main event?
