Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, is finally ready to assess his performance from the UFC 229 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, in which “Notorious” succumbed to a fourth-round submission against reigning division kingpin, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Watch it again here.
While the power-punching Irishman gave credit to “The Eagle” for a few shining moments, it sounds like McGregor is attributing the defeat to his own mistakes, and not the dominance of the Dagestani grappler, who captured two of the first three frames, including a 10-8 in the second stanza.
Or did he?
“From a fight standpoint, the first round is mine,” McGregor wrote on Instagram. “Actual shots landed and a willingness to engage. Straight left early. Knee to the head on the low shot. Elbows in any and all tie up scenarios. Opponent just holding the legs against the fence for almost the entire round.”
As for the actual submission, McGregor openly admits to one of the biggest (and only) criticisms of his otherwise stellar mixed martial arts (MMA) career. In the championship rounds, a clearly winded “Notorious” yielded to a stronger, fresher foe.
“My recovery was not where it could have been here,” he wrote. “That is my fault. I made a critical error of abandoning my over hook at this crucial time, exposing the back, and I end up beaten fair and square. I will be back with my confidence high. Fully prepared. If it is not the rematch right away, no problem. I will face the next in line. It’s all me always, anyway. See you soon my fighting fans I love you all.”
With promotion president Dana White already talking up a lightweight title fight between Nurmagomedov and former interim champion Tony Ferguson, it’s unlikely McGregor will score an immediate rematch. That means the “next in line” could be privy to “red-panty night” at some point in 2019.
Unless this finally happens.
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