Conor “The Notorious” McGregor, 31, of Dublin, Ireland has a new message to his rival Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov, 30, of Dagestan, Russia. The two battled it out in the main event of “UFC 229” at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on October 6, 2018.
Herb Dean’s explanation
Herb Dean served as the referee of the bout between McGregor and Nurmagomedov. The referee put a stop to the contest after 3 minutes and 3 seconds in the fourth round when the Dagestani submitted his Irish opponent via neck crank.
The aftermath of the bout sparked controversies. McGregor broke the rules during the match several times such as when he grabbed Nurmagomedov’s shorts, kneed the Dagestani in the head while on the floor and hooked his feet on the fence while grounded.
“My job is to facilitate exciting and clean matches not to intervene,” Dean said in response to the controversial fight. “Any time I intervene, I run the risk of artificially affecting the outcome of the fight. Even if I just talk to the fighter, I can distract him, he can take a shot, lose his position.”
“Did it affect the fighter?” Dean asked. “In the Conor McGregor-Khabib fight, the fouls by Conor did not affect Khabib enough to warrant risking disadvantaging him by intervening.”
Here is Dean discussing the fight between McGregor and Nurmagomedov:
McGregor vs Nurmagomedov rematch?
Meanwhile, many mixed martial arts fans are frowning upon the idea of having a rematch between McGregor and Nurmagomedov. But on July 25, 2019, UFC president Dana White said the rematch is possible in his interview with Rich Eisen on “The Rich Eisen Show.”
White pointed out that the lightweight division of the UFC is very interesting because of its top fighters including not only Nurmagomedov and McGregor but also American fighter Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson, 35, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, 36, and Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje, 30. The UFC president said the rematch between Nurmagomedov and McGregor “would be a massive fight and it’s absolutely possible.”
Watch Eisen’s complete interview with White here:
CONAN Daily 