With McGregor late, Khabib leaves press conference after 15 minutes: 'Lack of respect'

K. Nurmagomedov left after 15 minutes. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @ufc

Khabib Nurmagomedov e Conor McGregor participated in the last UFC 229 press conference this Thursday (05) at the Park Theater, in Las Vegas (USA). However, the event, which was scheduled to start at 19pm (Brasília time), was only attended by the president of Ultimate, Dana White and the lightweight champion. Since 'Notorious' was delayed again, this time by 25 minutes. Thus, 'The Eagle' became visibly irritated with his rival and said: 'lack of respect'.

See too

Conor McGregor promises 'devastating knockout' at UFC 229

Khabib says fighting McGregor 'is personal'

Brazilians Vicente Luque and Alan Nuguette are favorites on the UFC 229 preliminary card

White tried to justify McGregor's delay to journalists. However, Khabib ignored Conor's reasons for not being present and asked for the questions to begin normally. “I don’t need to wait for anyone. It's 3pm (local time), the fans are here, and the press is here, let's move on. You have questions, let's move on” declared Nurmagomedov.

Khabib explained that he was strict with the timing of the press conference, as he needed to return for the weight cut. Khabib needs to weigh 70,3kg, the category limit, this Friday to confirm the fight.

“I have an agenda. At 3pm this press conference has to start, I have to make weight. If he's late, it's not my problem. (…) Weight cutting is always tough. Thursday is my weight cutting day. That's why I didn't want to wait 30 minutes for this guy. After the press conference, I have to go home and cut weight”, explained the Russian fighter.

After 15 minutes of the press conference, Nurmagomedov thanked the fans for coming, took his belt and left. “I was here for 15 minutes, and he didn't show up. This is disrespectful. I'm leaving, tomorrow (Friday) you will see my weight. Until then”, concluded the champion.

With a 25-minute delay, McGregor arrived to a standing ovation from the fans and stated that he did not plan the delay. Even so, he didn't stop needling his rival.

“I didn’t plan this, I tried to get here. I'm only about two minutes late, damn it, but screw it. That b***h should have stayed here, but he doesn't want to be near me, he doesn't want to be near these people! He’s petrified!” said McGregor.

The face-off between the arch-rivals should take place during the official weigh-in on Friday (05) at 21pm (Brasília time).

Mike Tyson fires back at criticism about age and sends a message to Jake Paul: 'I like…'