MMA Year in Review – August: The hype begins for Conor vs. Khabib

Follow @mikehiscoe
Welcome to the eighth of twelve installments of the 2018 MMA year in review. In the series, we will look at the biggest stories and fights from each month and reflect on how things played out as the year went on. Be sure to check out the previous installments and stay tuned as we go through each month of 2018 over the coming days.

• January 2018 Year in Review
• February 2018 Year in Review
• March 2018 Year in Review
• April 2018 Year in Review
• May 2018 Year in Review
• June 2018 Year in Review
• July 2018 Year in Review

Top August Stories

8/3/2018 – UFC announced that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor would take place at UFC 229 on Oct. 6 from Las Vegas.

8/6/2018 – Georges St-Pierre told Submission Radio that he would be interested in fighting the Khabib-Conor winner. He also shot down the idea of fighting either Anderson Silva or Nate Diaz.

8/7/2018 – Bellator announced the bracket for their Welterweight Grand Prix. The first round fight between Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov was booked for Sept. 29.

8/8/2018 – Dana White shot down rumors of GSP returning to fight either Khabib Nurmagomedov or Conor McGregor. “I mean it’s like no. Pick a division!”

How did things turn out?

-Khabib vs. Conor took place as planned and Khabib finished McGregor in the fourth round. After that, Khabib jumped the cage, and chaos ensued. More on that in a couple of days.

-GSP has yet to fight but has been consistent in who he is or isn’t interested in fighting.

-Lima won a fifth-round submission over Koreshkov while Neiman Gracie defeated Ed Ruth in December in a first-round matchup. The other two matchups are scheduled for early 2019.

Key Fight Results

8/4/2018 – TJ Dillashaw knocked out Cody Garbrandt in the first round to retain his bantamweight championship at UFC 227. Also on the card, Henry Cejudo won a split-decision over longtime champion Demetrious Johnson to take the flyweight championship.

8/25/2018 – Justin Gaethje knocked out James Vick in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 135 main event.