SUNDAY NEWS DIGEST 3/31: Khabib and Conor continue feud on Twitter, Gaethje looking to fight for the title, Eddie Alvarez knocked out in ONE debut

By Michael Hiscoe, Managing Editor

Oct 6, 2018; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Khabib Nurmagomedov (red gloves) fights Conor McGregor (blue gloves) during UFC 229 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Shook

Conor McGregor “retired” from MMA last week, but he’s still been quite active in the MMA space through his tweets. On top of congratulating Justin Gaethje for his win over Edson Barboza last night, McGregor took some time to go after Khabib Nurmagomedov for some comments he made.

The UFC lightweight champ put out a post to his Twitter and Instagram followers simply thanking them for all of their support. It was a harmless enough post, but apparently, it was enough to get a response out of McGregor.

“You got your money took and your brothers eye socket shook when you fought me you little rat,” McGregor tweeted. “Viva Las Vegas baby the gaf always wins. Big stomper party in the Wynn coming soon!”

Khabib responded early Sunday morning with a tweet saying “money comes and goes, the honor that you lost that evening will never return, live with it. Finish career in MMA, but start career on twitter?#twitterWarrior”

Taking the high road has been tough for these two throughout the length of their feud, but with McGregor retired, Nurmagomedov is best to spend his energy on those who are interested in fighting.

How about Gaethje?

Someone who is most certainly interested in fighting is Justin Gaethje. Soon after quickly dispatching of Edson Barboza in Philadelphia last night, Gaethje started to set his sights on Nurmagomedov.

“I don’t care who it is,” Gaethje said on the ESPN+ UFC post-fight show (via MMAFighting). “It could be (Paul Felder), it could be Nate (Diaz), it could be Donald (Cerrone), it could be Khabib (Nurmagomedov). I don’t care. I’m on my way to Khabib and I want to fight him. I think I’m the toughest matchup for him.”

Gaethje may be right that he is a tough matchup for Nurmagomedov. Both men are pressure fighters who like to push the pace and overwhelm their opponents. After three back and forth wars to open his UFC career, Gaethje has made short work of his last two opponents in James Vick and Barboza. Ironically, taking a more measured and patient approach to his fights have made for quicker and easier wins for Gaethje. It’s a fact that’s not lost on him either.

“After those two losses (to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier), I really was able to look in the mirror,” Gaethje said. “Before that I was undefeated and I really didn’t take the time to make the changes, because I didn’t know what was wrong. I was just having so much success. But now, my ability to slow things down is so amazing. I didn’t know I could do it. I didn’t know I possessed that skill. But yeah, it’s much more of an up-here (cerebral) experience for me, and I’m loving it. The last two fights have been so much different than my other two.”

Sunday Notebook

-Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez made their ONE FC debuts this morning in Tokyo. Johnson continued to look like himself with a second-round submission of Yuua Wakamatsu while Alvarez went down via TKO to Timofey Nastyukhin in the first round. Click here to see Cole Henry’s full report and see video of the fights as well.

-Post-fight bonuses went to Justin Gaethje and Edson Barboza for Fight of the Night and to Jack Hermansson and Paul Craig for Performance of the Night.

In case you missed it

LIVE UFC PHILADELPHIA REPORT: Real-time results & analysis of Barboza-Gaethje, Branch-Hermansson

NEW PODCAST: MMA Fight Picks with Aaron Weinbaum picking UFC Philadelphia

ONE Championship: A New Era live video stream and report: Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson’s ONE debuts

Fight of the Day

 

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