Conor McGregor took jabs at rival Khabib Nurmagomedov online Thursday, just one day after the undefeated UFC lightweight champion announced he was out of his UFC 249 main event against Tony Ferguson.
Via Twitter, McGregor accused Nurmagomedov of running from the fight, which marked the fifth time the bout between the two fell out, saying in part “The fact of this matter is, both Tony and Khabib where engaged in a game of chicken here towards the fight bell. With Khabib chickening out first.”
Nurmagomedov wasted little time replying. Speaking to ESPN, The champ reminded McGregor that when the duo fought in the biggest event in UFC history, UFC 29, McGregor tapped out after taking a beating into the fourth round.
“What happened on Oct. 6, Oct. 6, 2018?” Nurmagomedov asked. “When we had six months training camp before the fight, you do everything that you can, and you come inside the cage, you talk lot of bad things before the fight, six months you train very hard and you come inside the cage and you tap like chicken.”
McGregor went on to declare himself in fighting shape over Twitter on Thursday. Nurmagomedov questioned this, too, noting that just a few days ago, McGregor shot a video urging the Irish public to stay home and in order to defeat coronavirus.
“OK, a couple days ago, he sent message, ‘hey, people, please take care of your family, be safe, stay home, government says stay home,’” the champ said. “Couple days ago. Now he talk ‘I’m in good shape blah blah blah I’m gonna fight.’ This is fake. For me, it’s fake. I was always real. Maybe someone like, maybe someone don’t like, but, this is not my job. But I was always real. But this guy’s fake.”
The way Nurmagomedov sees it, McGregor made excuses back at UFC 229 after losing, and now he’s once again chiming in with words that don’t back his actions.
“Conor always going to be number two, always. He can never can do nothing with me. Inside the cage with me, he’s zero.”
Hear more from Nurmagomedov below (via Twitter):
Khabib Nurmagomedov claps back at Conor McGregor: 'Inside the cage with me, he's zero'
