Khabib vs Conor McGregor UFC 229 press conference: 'There will be blood on this canvas, October 6'
McGregor and Khabib taunted one anotther on stage in New York, with McGregor warning that there will be blood in the Octagon this October
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Your support makes all the difference.Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon next month after last year’s defeat by Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring.
The Irishman goes head to head with the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov on 6 October, in what will be arguably the biggest match-up MMA has seen in its history.
The pair meet at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, home to where McGregor was stopped by Mayweather last August, with a stellar night of bouts scheduled for UFC 229.
With little under than three weeks to go until the big date, McGregor spoke alongside Khabib in their first press conference for the fight.
"Don't come at the king, don't ever come at the king," McGregor yelled at Khabib, who remained calm and quiet for the duration of the press conference.
McGregor spent much of the press conference animated and threatening Khabib.
"I am in a war state of mind," McGregor said at one point when asked how he had prepared himself. "That's how I'm getting ready. That's how I am getting ready".
The fight will be McGregor's first in two years and the first one since his arrest in New York over an incident in which he threw a metal dolly at a bus that Khabib was riding in Brooklyn.
McGregor said that he is thankful Khabib was a "coward" who did not get off of the bus then.
"I just thank the lord Jesus Christ that that man did not have the balls to step foot off that bus because trust me — or that the bus door did not open — because if that bus door had opened, I would not be here right now," McGregor said. "He would be in a box, and I would be in a cell".
The press conference is over now, but you can read along for the updates we sent along as the event was ongoing.
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"You cannot say a-salaam-alaikum and then congratulate him on whiskey," Khabib just told a reporter who congratulated McGregor on his new whiskey.
McGregor didn't seem to mind.
"I am in a war state of mind. That's how I'm getting ready. That's how I am getting ready," McGregor said.
"I fight every day of my life," McGregor said of his two years out of the octagon.
"I just thank the lord Jesus Chris that that man did not have the balls to step foot off that bus because trust me - or that the bus door did not open - because if that bus door had opened I would not be here right now. He would be in a box, and I would be in a cell," McGregor said of the bus incident.
Clearly, McGregor really wants to get at Khabib. Oh, and sell that whiskey he keeps mentioning.
Khabib said he is not sure if his father was able to get a visa to come to the United States for the fight on October 6.
McGregor is calling Khabib's father a coward, and saying that he was fake-nice and respectful to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Khabib responded that he is going to teach McGregor a lesson.
"Fake rat. Like I said, fake respect out of fear," McGregor just said of Khabib and his family after accusing him of disrespecting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"There will be blood on this canvas, October 6", McGregor just to finish up the press conference in New York.
McGregor and Khabib are back on the stage, staring each other down. McGregor is whispering to his future opponent, while Khabib is staying stoic.
"Breathe, kid. Take a breath," McGregor just said to Khabib.
"Don't come at the king, don't ever come at the king," McGregor just yelled after Khabib left.
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