Conor McGregor told exactly when his UFC career began to go downhill
Conor McGregor told exactly when his UFC career began to go downhill
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Former UFC and Strikeforce star Josh Thomson believes Conor McGregor's rivalry with Khabib Nurmagomedov sparked the beginning of the end for 'The Notorious.'. McGregor, 36, hasn't fought since breaking his leg in the trilogy showdown with Dustin Poirier back in 2021. The Irishman was due to return to the cage last year against former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler, but pulled out of the contest after picking up an injury in training.
His last win inside the cage came against Donald Cerrone back in 2020. While it was a quick day at the office for 'The Notorious' that night, that was arguably his best performance since the showdown with Eddie Alvarez - when he became the lightweight king and the first simultaneous champion in the history of the organisation. Following the clash with Alvarez, McGregor took a two year lay-off before entering the cage again when he took on Nurmagomedov in 2018. The build-up to the historic showdown was marred by personal insults thrown by 'The Notorious' towards the undefeated Russian sensation. Thomson believes on fight night, the Irishman was afraid of 'The Eagle' and he knew that the Dagestan brawler posed a real threat to him.
Speaking on the Weighing-In show, the former Strikeforce champion explained: “He’s taken a shift. He’s the heel, and he’s always kind of been the heel, but people also admired him and looked up to him before. The Khabib fight really brought a negative out of him. I felt like he was afraid of Khabib. He knew there was a legitimate threat, and there was nothing he could do about it. “There was nothing he thought for sure, ‘If I can catch him, I can knock him out sure’, but I think he knew that in a five-round fight, it was going to be very difficult. The things that came out of his mouth and the things he talked about and said about Khabib’s country, his dad, his village and his wife — unforgivable.”.
From start to finish, Nurmagomedov dominated the title fight before submitting the Irishman in the fourth round in Las Vegas. The Russian would go on to fight two more times before hanging up his gloves in 2020 after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. While many fans are wondering if McGregor will make a return to the cage, the Irishman himself recently let slip his return to the Octagon. During a recent interaction with Logan Paul, 'The Maverick' took a swipe at McGregor's lack of fights under the UFC banner, saying: “You can’t even do your main job. How are you going to do a side job?”.
