Nurmagomedov pleads with White to award belt
After defeating McGregor, then brawling in the crowd, and as Las Vegas metro police attempt to restore order, Nurmagomedov climbs back into the octagon and pleads with White to give him his belt: “Put my belt on me.” White refuses, fearing an even greater safety issue. He explained that angry fans would pelt him with anything they could get their hands on. Khabib continues to protest:
“I don’t care. I’m ready for this. If I have to be arrested, then I have to be arrested. But I want my belt put on me.
Nurmagomedov leaves press conference before McGregor shows up
McGregor and Nurmagomedov appear separately at the final press conference in Las Vegas ahead of Saturday night’s fight. Nurmagomedov took the stage at the Park Theater at exactly 3pm for a scheduled news conference with McGregor and UFC president Dana White. Nurmagomedov:
It’s 3pm, this conference is beginning. I don’t need to wait for nobody…Fans is here, media is here, everybody is here… I don’t think about him. I have a schedule… I have to make weight. I have to worry about myself.
Nurmagomedov answered questions for 15 minutes before leaving. White stalled for 10 minutes before McGregor finally arrived to the theater at 3:25pm. He received a standing ovation from the crowd and handed White a bottle of his new signature whiskey. McGregor:
I did not plan this. I tried to get here. I’m only a couple minutes late… He doesn’t want to be around me. He is petrified…There will never be peace here. I always say you should aim for peace but if you can’t aim for peace, aim between the eyes. I’m gonna to aim right between that man’s eyes and this is never over. Never, ever, ever, over.
Talks Mayweather rematch – boxing or MMA
McGregor tells ESPN’s Ariel Helwani he will win this weekend by a “devastating KO” and then assess who he faces next from a long list of possible opponents, including a rematch with Mayweather, in either boxing or MMA.
If [Mayweather] has the bottle to come over and deal with this, like he said he has, let’s see what happens. I would also like to box him again. Everything is being discussed. Every rule set. If it’s not an MMA bout, then I don’t want to know. It’s either a straight MMA bout or a straight boxing bout. If they come looking for modified rules, I would rather just box the kid again. If you don’t want to deal with it, then don’t deal with it and stop going on like you’re doing.
‘I fell out of love with the game for a bit’
With less than a week to go before McGregor’s big return to MMA against Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, McGregor talks about his displeasure with the UFC over how they stripped him of his belts:
I fell out of love with the game for a bit, went off on to my own thing… Had many things going on. Now I’m back. I’m hungry to compete…Making weight, handling the media obligations. And that’s it…I spent my entire life’s work to win those two UFC world titles…Then as soon as I win the second world title…the featherweight title was taken off of me and handed back to a man that I had a crazy history with….And then like, what, about a month, a month or two, the lightweight belt is stripped from me also…So these kind of things irritate me. Especially seeing what way it goes, who the belts are given to, who the people are that are challenging the belts… Many things irritate me in the game, and just watching it unfold, I just became more hungry to come back and show who the real king is.
Tesco limits McGregor’s whiskey sales due to high demand
Tesco Ireland limits sales of McGregor’s newly-released Proper Twelve whiskey, to two bottles per customer per day. One bottle of the whiskey retails at €35.00, and is being sold exclusively by Tesco. One sign placed in Tesco’s said: “Due to popular demand unfortunately Proper 12 Whiskey is limited to 2 bottles per customer per day.” A spokeswoman for the brand further confirmed:
To ensure availability for all customers we’ve introduced a limit on the number of bottles that can be sold in a single sale.
White: McGregor better at mental warfare than Muhammad Ali
The UFC 229 press conference for McGregor vs Nurmagomedov was McGregor’s first appearance in front of the press for some time. White says he is very impressed by McGregor’s verbal sparring skills:
Conor McGregor is the master of mental warfare. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think he’s better than anybody, even Muhammad Ali. You don’t ever want to say anybody’s better than Ali, but I think when it comes to mental war game in this sport, or any other sport, Conor McGregor is the best ever.
McGregor vs Nurmagomedov UFC 229 press conference
McGregor and Nurmagomedov meet face-to-face at at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the first press conference for their UFC 229 fight. With little under than three weeks to go, McGregor yelled at Nurmagomedov, who remained calm and quiet for the duration of the press conference. McGregor spent much of the press conference animated and threatening Nurmagomedov.
I’m going to truly love putting a beating on this little glass-jaw rat…He’s fought absolutely nobody. He’s in over his head. I’m going to pick him apart and absolutely maul him. He’s dead man walking.
Nurmagomedov said he will do his talking in the cage:
He can talk whatever he wants. He’s going to talk, I know. [Oct. 6] is most important when they close the cage doors. [Oct. 6], what are you going to do? I’m going to maul you.
The Manc Meets interview
Aaron and James are interviewed by The Manc, for The Manc Meets interview series. On the Manchester scene:
AS: It’s good. In the early days it was tough, because there’s a big shadow you have to operate under. But now, with bands like The Blossoms, Cabbage and ourselves, breaking through and doing decent sized shows, there’s something happening again in the city.
JR: There’s loads of venues opening up now…The music scene’s good, but starting out, back in the day, sometimes it was hard to get away from that big, old Madchester scene. If you’re from Manchester because people will automatically think, “I’ll compare them to a Manchester band”.
MCR Live interview
Aaron and Kurt are interviewed for MCR Live about their upcoming acoustic album, For All Here To Observe. Aaron:
We’ve done a few radio sessions and acoustic stuff, as well as supporting James at Albert Hall at the end of last year. We figured we’d just get it recorded.
Kurt:
When we’ve done radio sessions before, me and Aaron normally turn up with an acoustic guitar and now and then we’ve had Jim on acoustic bass so we decided to mic up the drums and use brushes. It really gave the whole thing a different texture.
White believes McGregor vs Nurmagomedov fight will break pay-per-view record
White believes the upcoming McGregor vs Nurmagomedov fight could break the two million pay-per-view barrier. The UFC do not release pay-per-view figures, but the record is believed to be 1.6million for McGregor’s rematch with Nate Diaz in 2016.
I am confident it will do two million on pay-per-view. Believe me when I tell you, this will be massive.
The National Interview
Mark is interviewed by The National, a daily newspaper in Scotland.
Our aim is to summarise all of the world’s news – past to present. We distribute our news through partners, such as social media fan pages and share advertising revenues with the page owners. People can sign up to be the next set of contributors. They tell us what they are interested in and we help them produce a timeline along the way. Anyone can come in for free and read the timeline or edit it…Facebook used to do a lot of news but now its model has changed where do people go for unbiased news? People can get a left-wing view in the Guardian and a right-wing view if they read the Telegraph but where is the unbiased reference point?
McGregor turns down offer to train at Mayweather’s gym
McGregor turns down the offer to train at Mayweather’s Las Vegas gym ahead of his return to the UFC. Whilst McGregor did not directly respond to the gym offer, he seemed to shut down any chance of training at Mayweather’s headquarters.
F*** the Mayweathers, except Senior and Roger. There is no peace here kid. Step up or step down.
Fuck the Mayweathers, except Senior and Roger.
There is no peace here kid.
Step up or step down.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 29, 2018
McGregor is working on his own whiskey distillery
McGregor reveals he is working on his own whiskey distillery in tribute to his late grandfather.
Working hard at my Whiskey distillery. It is in my opinion, the finest distillery we have on this great island…I know my granda is looking down on me now, proud of my creation…He was an avid, avid whiskey man…One day Granda ?❤?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm8vBB_AjSo/
Musk not taking Tesla private after all
In talking to our public investors, most were supportive of optimizing for long-term value creation over quarterly earnings. This was also a factor in remaining public.
In talking to our public investors, most were supportive of optimizing for long-term value creation over quarterly earnings. This was also a factor in remaining public.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2018
McGregor calls Nurmagomedov’s father a ‘quivering coward’
McGregor takes a shot at Nurmagomedov’s father and coach Abdulmanap, calling him a ‘quivering coward’ on social media.
I can see you. Cowering behind fake respect. Just like your middle child. A quivering coward.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm3bcH3gPFh/
Nurmagomedov reveals his strategy for McGregor grudge match
NURMAGOMEDOV reveals his strategy for his upcoming UFC229 lightweight title fight with McGregor.
My plan is to make him flat, make him tired and make him give up!
McGregor’s first time as MMA betting underdog
According to oddsmaking website OddsShark, McGregor looks set to come into UFC 229 as the underdog for the first time in his MMA career. At 26-0, Nurmagomedov is listed at -175 with Conor at +145. It is a narrow margin, but McGregor has always been favoured in the past, with only the boxer Floyd Mayweather coming in as the bookies’ choice.
Government confirms summer 2019 delivery
Gibson confirms the MV Glen Sannox will enter service in the summer of 2019:
Regarding deployment of the Glen Sannox on the Ardrossan route, it was confirmed to me on August 14 through a parliamentary question that it will enter service next summer, with a June delivery followed by two months of crew familiarisation and sea trials.
Malignaggi: McGregor will ‘look for a way out’ of Khabib fight, like he did with Diaz
Malignaggi gives his own pre-fight assessment on the upcoming UFC lightweight title bout between Nurmagomedov and McGregor:
Now, Khabib is not a guy that’s known as a submission guy. Khabib is more of a ground-and-pound guy, which means you don’t have the option to be submitted really because Khabib will just keep you on the ground and punish you and beat you…Conor has some skills standing up a little bit and maybe Khabib will have a hard time getting it to the ground, but if the fight ends up on the ground, it’s only a beating for Conor…The fact is he’s gonna look for a way out of that fight too. Look at round five of the Diaz rematch, he’s literally running for his life…With the fight hanging in the balance, who runs for the entire final round? He was given the decision in a close decision that could have went either way, but who takes that chance though?…These are all character flaws of a man with no balls.
McGregor inspires Hardy character ‘Venom’ in upcoming film
Hardy reveals McGregor inspired his character in the upcoming film, ‘Venom’. Hardy plays the character of Eddie Brock who transforms into Spider-Man’s arch nemeses, Venom, after his body is infiltrated by an evil alien symbiote. He says the role was excting because it’s a double act. He sees Brock as:
A mixture of Woody Allen and Conor McGregor: tortured neurosis but also bravado.
And for the character of the alien, he was inspired by James Brown and “one of those rappers from the Nineties, big voices: Redman or Method Man”.
