Khabib Nurmagomedov's manager says Conor McGregor should quit fighting and open a liquor store
- Conor McGregor should quit the fight game and focus on the whiskey trade.
- That is according to Khabib Nurmagomedov's manager Ali Abdelaziz, who fired back at McGregor's recent Instagram post with a social media statement of his own.
- McGregor said earlier in the week that from a "fighting standpoint" he won two of the first three rounds of their fight earlier this month.
- Abdelaziz disagrees and called McGregor a "weak soul" who "waved the white flag" in the middle of the UFC 229 fight on October 6.
- He then advised McGregor to leave the UFC and "open a liquor store."
Khabib Nurmagomedov's manager has offered career advice to Conor McGregor - quit fighting, and focus on the whiskey trade.
Ali Abdelaziz is the representative for the UFC lightweight world champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. He looks after the fighter's best interests and is helping to guide Nurmagomedov's career after the Russian wrestler submitted McGregor in the fourth round of their wildly-entertaining UFC 229 fight.
McGregor campaigned for a rematch, claimed he won the battle, and said the war with Nurmagomedov is not yet over in the UFC 229 aftermath. More recently, he claimed in a lengthy Instagram post that from a "fighting standpoint" he won two of the first three rounds despite making mistakes.
Abdelaziz has responded to McGregor with his own post on Instagram. He called the Irish striker a "weak soul," adding that he and his "sorry a-- team" made some "stupid a-- excuses."
McGregor mercilessly trolled Nurmagomedov before UFC 229 on October 6. He said he was smelly, a "Dagestani rat," and he even insulted his family when he called Nurmagomedov's father a "quivering coward." McGregor also verbally slapped Abdelaziz when he called him a "terrorist snitch."
Now, Abdelaziz is firing back. "When a man gets held against his will and listens to you gasp for air, hopeless on your back how do you win a fight? If this was a street fight you'd be done. You got out-grappled and out-wrestled, looking like a little child," he said.
'It's only business'
Nurmagomedov dominated McGregor in the fight. He appeared stronger than McGregor, dropped him with an overhand right in the second round, and made him tap because of a tight neck crank in the fourth. In the middle of the fight, the two fighters could be heard talking to each other.
British broadcaster BT Sport, which carries the rights of UFC events in the UK, offered subtitles for what they believed each fighter was saying. When Nurmagomedov had top position on the mat, he could be heard saying "let's talk" and "let's talk now" in between raining punches down on McGregor's face, according to the video. BT Sport also believed McGregor tried to say "it's only business," in the middle of the fight.
This, for Abdelaziz at least, is evidence of McGregor wanting to run away from the fight.
He said: "The wrestler/grappler out-struck you and hit you with a K-Bomb and put you on your ass, taken down and hit with missile strikes from the guard and getting smashed in front of your whole family and crew. Then you mentioned this is only business. You put your white flag in the middle of battle."
In the fourth round, McGregor showed the world that he's "a tap machine," according to Abdelaziz, who then called McGregor "embarrassing" and even offered the 30-year-old some career advice.
"Go open a liquor store and focus on selling alcohol, especially after all the s--- you talked. Just stfu and move on."
See Ali Abdelaziz's post on Instagram right here:
Abdelaziz and Nurmagomedov's stock in the combat sports market has never been higher. The UFC boss Dana White recently said that the ideal next UFC fight for Nurmagomedov would be a defence of his lightweight world championship title against Tony Ferguson, who has been on an excellent run of form lately having scalped Rafael dos Anjos, Kevin Lee, and Anthony Pettis in the last two years.
But Nurmagomedov is looking at a big-money, high-profile fight away from the UFC.
According to a recent statement on Instagram, Nurmagomedov met with the Russian Boxing Federation this week to discuss a potential super-fight against Floyd Mayweather - and he even wants to host it in Moscow in front of 100,000 fans.
If that fight were to materialise, it is one Abdelaziz believes his client can make history with, as he believes Nurmagomedov has the necessary power to knock Mayweather off of his feet and onto the floor. If that were to happen, he would be the only fighter to ever do that to the American.