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Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov missed out on running into each other by about 30 seconds.
McGregor had just arrived at the hotel where he and the other fighters are staying for the ongoing UFC fight week on Fight Island (Yas Island) in Abu Dhabi, UAE. And this was when Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team were making their way around the hotel lobby.
Conor McGregor arrived on UFC Fight Island in style
To say that Conor McGregor knows how to make an entrance would be a severe understatement. The Notorious One is as swashbuckling and focused as one could be ahead of his all-important UFC 257 headlining matchup against Dustin Poirier. McGregor made a grand entrance in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and received great cheers and celebrations at the UFC fighter hotel.
Conor McGregor, his longtime partner Dee Devlin, and their children (son Conor McGregor Jr. and daughter Croia McGregor) arrived at the hotel escorted by a convoy of SUVs. McGregor and his family then disembarked from their vehicle and entered the hotel, as media personnel, UFC staff, and the hotel employees welcomed them. Most people in the vicinity, including the professionals mentioned above who received McGregor, were donning hazmat suits.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor were dangerously close to clashing with one another
Merely 30 seconds after Conor McGregor’s royal arrival at the hotel, the media members present at the hotel were surprised to see McGregor’s archrival Khabib Nurmagomedov in the hotel lobby. Nurmagomedov was there with his team and had surprised MMA journalist The Schmo while The Schmo was interviewing MMA veterans Matt Serra and Din Thomas.
The Eagle had a lighthearted interaction with The Schmo and the MMA veterans. Nurmagomedov then bid farewell to them and proceeded to walk away down the hotel lobby.
Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and their ‘location’
“Send me location”
The aforementioned phrase, as simple as it may sound, was immortalized in MMA history. In April 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov uttered this phrase and dared Conor McGregor to send him a location where they could settle their differences in a fight. The two fighters did face-off eventually, in the UFC’s famed octagon in October 2018, with Nurmagomedov winning their battle via fourth-round submission.
That said, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov almost coming face to face with each other on UFC Fight Island in 2021 has undoubtedly thrilled MMA fans worldwide.
McGregor and Nurmagomedov were notably involved in two public scuffles outside the octagon. The first one was Conor McGregor’s bus attack on Khabib Nurmagomedov in April 2018. The second was Nurmagomedov and his team attacking Conor McGregor and his team after the Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor fight at UFC 229 in October 2018.
Whether or not the MMA world gets to see a rematch between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov remains to be seen.
