Cormier Believes Khabib Owes Conor McGregor ‘A Lot’ for the Overnight Success: “Did Make Him a Star”

Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 was vibes nothing will ever come close to replicating. Those two hated each other and it showed. While the two still share that bitterness, the theatrics that led up to the bout eventually Khabib’s win against the former double champ, made him a global superstar.

Reflecting on his aspect, Nurmagomedov’s AKA buddy, Daniel Cormier keyed in on this week’s Good Guy/ Bad Guy podcast alongside Chael Sonnen. DC believes that the Conor fight really helped mould the legend of Khabib. The Dagestani fighter gained 8 million followers overnight after beating the crap out of McGregor that fateful night.

Speaking about how the undefeated Dagestani was on the prelims when Conor became the double champ and how his life changed since UFC 229, DC said:

“Khabib became a global superstar, Chael the fight that Khabib had when Conor beat Eddie Alvarez to become the double champ, Khabib was on the prelims, so he was still a prelims fighter so for as he hate Conor McGregor, he does owe a lot to him in this regard. It really did make him a star.”

The veteran is absolutely spot-on with his analogy. The fight with the Irishman really did change the Russian’s trajectory as he amassed a global fan following after the stint with McGregor.

And as fans reminisce the eventful day, the UFC has dropped new audio of the Conor vs Khabib fight, exposing the bitter feud.

 UFC’s new footage of Khabib vs Conor

Back in 2018, fight fans around the world was blessed with Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov, a fight that still brimmed with hatred and unforeseen consequences.

The brutal personal attacks, McGregor’s typical smack talk, and the genuine bad blood between them fueled the fight and the two met each other in the octagon at UFC 229.

Despite getting into his head, weeks of trash talk did not help the Irishman in any manner but in turn, made Khabib more furious as he delivered a beat-down for the ages on McGregor. The Russian used his elite wrestling skills to maul Conor and finally choked him to win. However, ‘The Eagle’ wasn’t done with McGregor. In fact, the Russian felt pity for his opponent that after all this hype, he just tapped out.

Even Khabib’s pal, Islam Makhachev can be seen in the new footage pumping up ‘The Eagle’ to go for the kill, explaining McGregor’s poor state.

In the new footage, fans can see all the other conversations that was being had during Conor’s mauling. It even saw Khabib spit on the Irishman when he was done.

Needless to say, this was a generational rivalry and will never be repeated again.