Saturday Oct. 5thwas supposed to be one of the biggest days in mixed martial arts history.
Even though it was not what anyone had imagined, what took place during and after UFC 229 cemented that night in the history books.
After three exhilarating undercard fights, Conor McGregor challenged Khabib Nurmagomedov on the canvas for a match-up that may have been the most anticipated ever.
The fight was largely dominated by the belt holder. Despite a late charge by McGregor, Khabib proved too much and won by tap out in the fourth round.
Those two sentences are all you will hear from me as far as fight analysis is concerned, because what happened afterwards stole the show.
By now, everyone has seen the footage from the moments immediately after Conor tapping out.
Just in case you live under a rock, here is what happened:
- Khabib celebrates briefly, then throws his mouthguard towards Conor’s corner
- Khabib then begins to scream at Conor’s team and jumps over the fence
- Khabib drop-kicks Conor’s coach and is surrounded by security
- Two of Khabib’s teammates jump into the octagon and assault Conor
- The belt presentation is forfeited due to security risk and both fighters are escorted out
This entire skirmish lasted for about eight minutes, but there was easily more action in that period than there was in the preceding two hours.
Naturally, that is what all of the post-fight coverage centred around. It was almost 45 minutes before anyone mentioned the fight itself. There were debates about whether the belt will be stripped from Khabib, if he will be allowed to fight in Nevada again, or if he will even be able to enter the United States again.
Was it scripted? No. Was it what the UFC wanted? Absolutely.
Dana White may have looked flustered in his post-fight interview, but the UFC president certainly has to be happy with the publicity his organization has been getting in the week following the fight.
As a casual UFC observer, my friends and I have got together only a handful of times to pay the money and watch the fights.
Looking at our group chat this week one would think we are professional analysts. There have been heated discussions with supporters for both fighters and support for the UFC to ban both of them.
We’re not the only ones. According to mmafighting.com, UFC 229 destroyed previous pay-per-view records, with an estimated 2.4 million buys. That is 900,000 more than the previous top earning MMA fight of all time, which also featured Conor McGregor back in 2016.
In the six days following UFC 229, the fallout is starting to take shape – Khabib has threatened to quit the UFC, both fighters have been suspended pending review and members of both fighters’ corners have been charged.
Social media and water coolers alike have been abuzz with talk surrounding the fight. The best thing the UFC can do is ride this publicity out as long as they can. Though official talk of a rematch is non-existent at this point, I would bet my house that it will happen.
The only way that a fight will eclipse Khabib/McGregor in the next several years is if there is another Khabib and McGregor fight. It’s that simple.
This fight has turned casual fans into repeat customers and at $100 CAD for a pay-per-view, it is in the UFC’s best interest as a business to schedule a rematch as soon as it can.