Yesterday afternoon, the UFC hosted the first press conference for UFC 229, featuring headliners Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. As expected, all hell broke loose.
One major theme of this wild press conference was Conor McGregor plugging his new whiskey Proper Twelve. The Irish star was sipping his new whiskey consistently throughout the event, and ultimately announced that the brand is now a sponsor of the UFC. He even offered Khabib Nurmagomedov a birthday drink — though Nurmagomedov unsurprisingly declined.
While this event served as a nice marketing opportunity for McGregor’s whiskey, Nurmagomedov now seems to consider McGregor an alcoholic. Speaking on Instagram after the press conference, the Russian hinted at a grim fate for his whiskey drinking rival.
“All alcoholics are waiting for one fate,” Nurmagomedov said in his post, which was penned in his native Russian. “All alcoholics will have the same end.”
UFC 229 goes down on October 6, inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Khabib Nurmagomedov will enter the fight having last competed in April, when he captured the UFC lightweight title with a decision defeat of last-minute replacement opponent Al Iaquinta. The title was quietly stripped from the long absent Conor McGregor on the same night. With this title win over Al Iaquinta, Nurmagomedov improved to a flawless 26-0 overall — one of the most impressive records in MMA.
Conor McGregor, meanwhile, has not competed since August of 2017, when he lost a headline-dominating boxing match to undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. His most recent MMA bout occurred in November of 2016, when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to capture the UFC lightweight title. Because he still held the UFC featherweight title he swiped from Jose Aldo at the time, this made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes concurrently. He’s 21-3 overall.
What do you think of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s latest jab at Conor McGregor?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/20/2018.