Conor McGregor takes jibe at nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov when asked to choose between bear or gorilla fight

Conor McGregor makes a spiteful reference to former rival, Khabib Nurmagomedov during Road House movie promotion.

Conor McGregor takes jibe at nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov when asked to choose between bear or gorilla fight

Back when Khabib Nurmagomedov checked Conor McGregor (Image via Imago)

Conor McGregor is not over his longtime rivalry against Khabib Nurmagomedov. The UFC superstar recently talked about it in a promotional interview for his movie, Roadhouse with, UNILAD. Here is what happened:

Conor McGregor was asked whether he would fight a bear or a gorilla if given a chance. This question seemed to have struck a nerve with McGregor who picked the bear and made a reference to his former Dagestani rival. 

I'll go this. Fighting a bear is handy. I fought one that trained with bears back in the day. He's only a little fool. He went running.
Conor McGregor via UNILAD
YouTube video

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor share a history of animosity including a highly publicized rivalry that ultimately ended in one of the biggest fights the UFC has ever hosted. The fight sold 2.4 million PPV buys, the most the promotion has sold in the past 30 years of its existence. Khabib beat Conor in the fourth round of UFC 229 via submission. The build-up to the fight and the chaos afterward made it one of the most memorable rivalries.

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A potential rematch was one of the biggest questions after UFC 229. McGregor was up for it and seemingly pushed for one too. McGregor’s documentary that came out last year showed that he had been wanting to fight Nurmagomedov again inside the octagon. However, the Dagestani lightweight champion retired in 2021 after beating Justin Gaethje and going undefeated throughout his career.

He did so at the behest of his mother who asked him never to fight again after the death of his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. McGregor was sure he would come back and their rematch would happen but Nurmagomedov never did, despite many lucrative offers from the UFC.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father wanted $30 million for Conor McGregor rematch

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov said on video that he would consider a potential rematch with Conor McGregor only if the number was upwards of $30 million. This was a substantial financial demand but Nurmagomedov said that he realized what they were worth after their first fight at UFC 229.

Khabib Nurmagomedov and father
Khabib Nurmagomedov and father (via Imago)

The video that came up on the internet was probably one of his last interviews. In that interview, Nurmagomedov’s father publically declared that he forgave McGregor and invited him as a guest. He also revealed that the UFC had offered $15 million for a rematch between the two. He said: “If there will be a war it will get more interesting. When they offered $15 million for the rematch, we said make it twice so we can start talking. We know our price now. It gave a shock to the UFC.”

It later came up that after his father’s death, UFC CEO Dana White had tried his best to convince Khabib Nurmagomedov to make a comeback. Daniel Cormier revealed that Nurmagomedov rejected a whopping $40 million offer to make his UFC comeback.

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