“It’s a cry for help” - Daniel Cormier addresses Conor McGregor’s tweet that was a purported jab at Khabib Nurmagomedov’s late father

Daniel Cormier opened up about Conor McGregor's tweet, purportedly a jab directed at Khabib Nurmagomedov and his late father by the Irishman.

Khabib Nurmagomedov's longtime training partner, MMA legend Daniel Cormier, provided his take on Conor McGregor's tweet. On the latest edition of ESPN MMA's DC & RC show, Cormier spoke to co-host Ryan Clark regarding the Irishman. Cormier stated:

“Yeah, you know, absolutely crossed the line – And, you know, I think when stuff like that is being said, I think it’s a cry for help, right? Conor has all the money in the world. He has all the fame. But now, when you start to dig at that level, like, somebody needs to get to McGregor and help him, right? Start to kind of re-shift his mind and his focus, and get him back to a better place. It’s unfortunate.”

In the aftermath of Conor McGregor's injury and resultant first-round TKO (doctor's stoppage) loss against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, Khabib Nurmagomedov had tweeted that good always defeats evil. Khabib also congratulated 'Diamond' on the win. The belief is that Khabib's assertion regarding good beating evil was him alluding to Poirier beating McGregor.

On that note, Conor McGregor recently tweeted – "COVID is good and father is evil?" – which is believed to reference Khabib's father, legendary MMA coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who passed away in July 2020 due to health complications caused by COVID-19.

Conor McGregor's tweet came a few days after Khabib's. Many in the MMA community have condemned the Irishman for the tweet. McGregor's critics claim he's gone too far this time around by directing his trash talk at an individual who's no longer with us.

“I think when stuff like that is being said, I think it’s a cry for help.”@dc_mma believes Conor McGregor has “taken it way too far” with his recent trash talk. pic.twitter.com/qEh7obHARj

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 29, 2021

In a preface to his aforementioned statements about Conor McGregor needing help, Daniel Cormier provided an insight into the Irishman's trash talk. DC said:

“You know after the fight with Dustin Poirier, a lot of people questioned whether or not Conor McGregor was reaching to try to get into the head of Dustin Poirier. Reach back to a time where he had a trash talk that could affect people. It didn’t seem to work against Poirier. And I feel like from him talking about Dustin’s wife, to now Khabib’s father, he is just taking it way too far. And when you’re dealing with death and Covid and all these other things that we’ve dealt with over the last year and a half, that’s all off-limits. I mean, we talked about wives and families being off-limits. But when you’re talking about a man’s everything – Khabib’s dad was his everything – and you’re talking about him being gone today due to something that has been so terrible for our entire world, and you use that in a sense to get back.”

Daniel Cormier added that he spoke to Khabib Nurmagomedov after Conor McGregor's tweet:

“And you know what’s probably most disturbing, RC, is that this wasn’t done the day after the fight or the same night of the fight. This was done weeks after the fight. So, it feels like it was thought of, and it was thought through for Conor to tweet something like that. Now, I get shock value and I get trying to get people to talk, but (this tweet was) way too far, to the point that I immediately called Khabib last night and said, ‘Hey, are you okay?’ – Right? Asking him if he’s okay after having to see that, especially with no ability to do anything about it again."

Speaking about Khabib's frustrations at not being able to confront McGregor, Cormier said:

"You know, he [Khabib] spoke to my kids at my wrestling program the other day and said that he was never happier than when he got to fight McGregor on the day because for so long he wanted to get his hands on Conor and beat Conor up. Well, he can’t do that no more because he’s not a prizefighter anymore. So, now he has to just kind of swallow that. So, way too far, Ryan. And, honestly, when Conor does stuff like that, it’s hard to understand how there’s still this mass amount of people that support that type of behavior.” (*Video courtesy: ESPN MMA YouTube, DC & RC; Tweet courtesy: ESPN MMA Twitter; H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)

Watch the video below:

Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from MMA, whereas Conor McGregor aims to recapture UFC gold

Conor McGregor (left); Dustin Poirier (right)

Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from MMA after his win over Justin Gaethje in October 2020. In the ensuing months, 'The Eagle' has consistently asserted he will not compete as a professional MMA fighter ever again.

The former undefeated UFC lightweight champion revealed that his mother didn't want him to continue his fighting career without his father. 'The Eagle' subsequently promised his mother that he'd bid farewell to his professional MMA career.

Following his father's passing in July 2020, Khabib competed one last time in October 2020 – in the aforementioned fight against Gaethje – and then announced his retirement from MMA.

On the other hand, Conor McGregor is coming off a pair of consecutive losses to Dustin Poirier. The Irishman's most recent fight was a first-round TKO loss against Poirier at UFC 264, in a fight that witnessed 'Notorious' suffer a horrific leg injury.

Conor McGregor is unlikely to return to the octagon before 2022. Meanwhile, Dustin Poirier is expected to fight UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira for the title later this year.

During his ongoing physical rehab and recovery journey, Conor McGregor has strongly emphasized that he will indeed face Poirier again. Moreover, Conor McGregor has also highlighted that he intends to recapture a UFC belt when he returns.