After being cageside for his teammate’s UFC 229, Daniel Cormier believes Khabib Nurmagomedov has a beautiful fight against Conor McGregor. “I thought Khabib fought beautifully,” Cormier said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I thought he implemented the gameplan that he wanted to implement, fought the way that he wanted to fight and did exactly what he needed to do. I thought he fought beautifully.” “Honestly man, that first takedown, I was like wow, he really made [Nurmagomedov] work for this takedown,” Cormier said. “Because this is what we say at AKA — we try to get you lost in the sauce. We want to get you lost in the sauce, right? Like, when we’re on a leg, we want to give you one [takedown attempt]; okay, you’ll defend; two, you’ll defend; three, then you start going, ‘okay, wait a minute,’ then you start to get lost. You get lost in all the different transitions, from to move to move to move, and eventually we get you down. And once we get you down, obviously it’s very difficult to get back up. “[McGregor] didn’t get lost in it. Like, Khabib had to go to level four to get that first takedown. He went high crotch, he went crackdown, he went ‘try to get the angle,’ he tried to run the pipe, then he actually had to go to his knees, look across the back to get to a double just to get Conor down the first time. Conor didn’t get lost. He really did a good job, and that’s why if you’re Team McGregor, there’s cause for concern, because I don’t know if he could do that any better and he still got beat in the way that he got beat.“ When asked about the build to the fight between McGregor and Khabib, Cormier made an comparison to his fights with Jon Jones. “I think, Conor, he was building a fight, and there was just a little bit of a difference in the approach,” Cormier said. “When he was building the fight and kinda going home going, ‘Okay, yeah, I think that might’ve gotten him a little bit,’ or, ‘that got under his skin,’ the whole time it’s causing this guy (Nurmagomedov) to just go, ‘God, I hate him. Man, I can’t stand this dude. I want to hurt him,’ then going back to the gym and training harder and more. So, that’s where the difference lies. It’s like, we (Jones and I) never regretted anything we said to each other or about each other, and it was okay if it just continued to escalate.” Quotes via MMA Fighting<doc-sep>THE biggest fight in UFC history is almost upon us as Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. The undefeated Russian is the current lightweight champ after defeating Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 in April - while the Notorious is returning to MMA after a two-year spell away. 4 McGregor and Khabib will do battle at UFC 229 Credit: AP: Associated Press Here are five facts you need to know ahead of Saturday night's brawl in Las Vegas. Khabib Nurmagomedov is undefeated in his professional MMA career Dagesani wrestler Khabib has not suffered defeat in his professional career as a mixed martial artist. The Eagle' has fought ten times since he entered the UFC, making his debut in 2010 against Kamal Shalorus. Nurmagomedov won all ten of his fights, winning two by submission, two by knockout and the remaining six by unanimous decision. The Dagestan native defeated Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 by a unanimous decision in April of 2018 to win the vacant UFC lightweight belt. Such is Khabib’s dominance since entering the UFC six years ago, the 30-year-old has never even lost a ROUND in any of his ten fights. McGregor has not fought in the UFC since 2016 The Notorious may have had a whirlwind 2017 and 2018 but he has not entered the Octagon for a professional fight since he defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. Mac won the 155lbs crown by disposing of Alvarez in a second-round TKO - earning him the title of 'Double Champ' after ripping through the 145lbs division, previously. But the Crumlin native has not fought since - aside from his multi-million dollar boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in August last year. 4 McGregor launched an attack before UFC 223 Credit: UFC The build up to UFC 229 begins as Conor McGregor looks to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov UFC 229 is much more than a fight THE UFC 229 headline contest has been billed as much more than a title fight after previous skirmishes between the two MMA stars. Anticipation for the contest has been building after the Curumlin scrapper attack Khabib's team bus before UFC 223. McGregor launched a dolly at the window of Nurmagomedov's bus during the media day before UFC 223 in April - smashing a window and injuring a number of other UFC stars in the process. Mac was arrested and charged - along with SBG team-mate Cian Cowley for the attack - each receiving fines and community service orders from a Brooklyn court in July. The attack was said to be in retaliation for Khabib squaring up to McGregor's sparring partner Artem Lobov earlier that week. 4 Khabib at last night's weigh in Credit: AP: Associated Press The attack has since been used as part of the UFC's promo for the Saturday's scrap at the T-Mobile Arena - with both McGregor and Khabib confirming the Las Vegas brawl as being 'personal'. Saturday's fight is not the last we'll see of McGregor WIN, lose or draw, UFC 229 will not the last time we lost the Dubliner step into the Octagon. McGregor will surely be back for another knock in the cage after signing a new six-fight deal with Dana White and co last month. The striker confirmed at last month's UFC 229 press conference that he and White had come to a lucrative agreement for another six-fights in the future. The 30-year-old's six fights include the match-up with Khabib Nurmagomedov on Oct 6. Speaking to ESPN, Dana White said: “It’s not hard to do a deal with Conor McGregor because we know what he’s worth.” 4 McGregor weighing in last night Credit: Getty The deal will also include McGregor’s new Proper Twelve Whiskey brand as a sponsor in each one of his fights. When asked if the logo will be present in the octagon, McGregor said: “You bet your b******s it is. On the canvas. On the canvas. Like [Nurmagomedov’s] blood will be on the canvas.” UFC 229 is set to be the biggest fight on record DANA WHITE has confirmed that October 6 fight is trending towards 3 million pay-per-view buys - making it the biggest MMA event the world has ever seen. MOST READ SPORT Live Blog MAN UTD 1 (10) VILLARREAL 1 (11) Penalties heartbreak for Red Devils as De Gea misses OLE SAID AND DONE Solskjaer blows chance to end Utd trophy drought and it won't get easier JEEPERS KEEPERS Agony for Man Utd as De Gea misses after epic shootout goes down to GOALIES Live Blog FOOTBALL NEWS LIVE Zidane QUITS Real Madrid, Antonio Conte leaves Inter Milan Live Blog RED DEVILS NEWS Europa League final build-up as Maguire NOT yet ruled out, Ronaldo LATEST ZINE ENOUGH Zidane 'quits Real Madrid with immediate effect' after troubled Bernabeu season Live Blog GUNNERS NEWS Aouar available for 'just £25m', Odegaard's future LATEST Pictured THE PINK PUNDIT Jamie Carragher forced to wear a PINK WIG on air after losing Man Utd bet FAKE PAUL Tommy Fury slams Jake Paul and claims Molly-Mae leaked DMs aren't real in rant Pictured FANDEMONIUM Man Utd fans in party spirit early with PLENTY of pints in rammed Gdansk bars UFC 229 is set to smash the previous record set by the Dubliner - when he fought Nate Diaz for the second time at UFC 202 in August 2016. That fight saw a record 1.7m buys - eclipsing a seven-year record set by Brock Lesnar and Frank Mire set at UFC 100 in 2009 - which saw 1.6m purchases. White confirmed to ESPN the trend in figures, saying : "I told you guys we’re trending at two million pay-per-view buys, we’re closer to three million now. We’re trending close to three million pay-per-view buys for this fight. Conor is so big and famous and people love watching him fight.”<doc-sep>
UFC News: Conor McGregor looks on during the UFC 229 open workouts UFC News - Khabib Nurmagomedov issues ultimatum to the UFC Khabib Nurmagomedov has warned the UFC he will quit the promotion if his team-mate Zubaira Tukhugov is punished for his involvement in the UFC 229 brawl. A fired-up Nurmagomedov wrote on Instagram: “I would like to address UFC. Why didn't you fire anyone when their team attacked the bus and injured a couple of people? “They could have killed someone there, why no one says anything about insulting my homeland, religion, nation, family? “Why do you have to punish my team, when both teams fought. If you say that I started it, then I do not agree, I finished what he had started. In any case, punish me, Zubaira Tukhugov has nothing to do with that. "If you think that I’ll keep silent then you are mistaken. You cancelled Zubaira’s fight and you want to dismiss him just because he hit Conor. But don’t forget that it was Conor who had hit my another Brother FIRST, just check the video. “If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too. We never give up on our brothers in Russia and I will go to the end for my Brother. If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I'll break it myself. “And one more thing, you can keep my money that you are withholding. You are pretty busy with that, I hope it won’t get stuck in your throat. We have defended our honour and this is the most important thing. We intend to go to the end. #Brothers” UFC News: Khabib Nurmagomedov has launched an explosive rant at the UFC If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too Khabib Nurmagomedov's message to the UFC over them potentially axing UFC News - Conor McGregor’s coach makes admission Conor McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh has admitted they were too defensive in their bout with Nurmagomedov. “If there’s one thing I could change it’s that I think I was too defensive in my mindset for this training camp,” Kavanagh said during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast. “But Khabib has very specific types of takedowns, depending on where he is, whether it’s shooting on the low single in the middle, and on the fence.” “I would like to change things up a little bit, specifically, a more offensive mindset. I thought defensively, we did quite well, but offensively, we weren’t really where we usually are,” he added. “And right when the fight was over, I was thinking ‘You know what, I was kind of going into this not to lose, but not to win (either). “His shots weren’t as crisp as they normally are, he had opportunities to hit him, especially in the third round, and it seemed to be the range – something was off.” UFC News - Jon Jones’ return announced UFC News: Jon Jones (L) will rematch Alexander Gustafsson (R) in the main event of UFC 229