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Earlier this week Conor McGregor offered a round by round breakdown of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov (read here).

Well last night Khabib's manager Ali Abdel Aziz posted a response on his instagram page;

"First of all the champion @khabib_nurmagomedov is too busy enjoying his life and his family and does not give a shit what anyone says but this is my response to this weak soul, him and his sorry ass team already making some stupid ass excuses.

1) 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.

2) Second round - 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 & crew. 

3) Khabib stood the whole round with you to make a point that you’re a front runner. If you can knock someone else you give up like you did 5 times in your fighting career. THEN YOU MENTIONED THIS IS ONLY BUSINESS YOU PUT YOUR WHITE FLAG IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE

4th round - God put mercy in Khabibs heart and decided to show the world you’re a tap machine and put on a neck crank that wasn’t even a choke. The proper technique is 2 on 1 try to peel the arm and defend the neck crank. You put your two hands on the ground and your hand only came up when you were ready to tap.

It’s embarrassing, if you would have beat Khabib. It would have been fair and square you win w no excuses. Now If you can’t make us 100m we know you can’t go fight somebody else because your ass is not getting a rematch. Go open a liquor store and focus on selling alcohol especially after all the shit you talked. Just stfu and move on."

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Talented SBG fighter Frans Mlambo (5-3) returns to action this Saturday night October 27 at Brave CF 17 in Lahore, Pakistan and he is up against Wales' Aidan James (2-0).

Mlambo served as the main event of Brave CF 13 and fought for the bantamweight title in Belfast in his last fight. However 'The Black Mamba' lost a unanimous decision against Stephen Loman. Overall Mlambo is 3-2 in Brave CF, both of those losses to Loman.

Aidan James turned professional 18 months ago after a strong amateur career. He made his Brave CF debut on the undercard of Mlambo's last fight where he scored a TKO win over Mlambo's SBG teammate Tommy Martin.

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Cage Warriors Academy Ireland will return for its sophomore event on February 3 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and will once again take place at the Devenish Complex.

The first CWAI event took place in September and by all accounts was a really well ran event with thirteen amateur fights featuring some of the talent from around the whole island competing.

"The first event went really well," said matchmaker Peter Lavery. "There were some fantastic fights, all evenly matched in my opinion. The show ran smoothly with Andy Ryan looking after the backstage area making sure the runners had the fighters down on time, the officials were chosen from across the island and were all licensed by IMMAF/UAMMA and IAMMA, and the refs are two of the most experienced that we have in Ireland.

"We have set ourselves a standard with the academy and we mean to maintain that with all our events.The Cage Warriors Academy has now grown to 8 events now across Europe, which means we are offering our amateur talent the chance to compete at all these events representing Ireland. We have four fighters now through to the Grand Prix final in Wales on December 1st at the Cage Warriors 100 event and we hope that we will have more than that come December 2019."

In a post of their Facebook page CWAI have said that the event on February 3 will feature a full amateur card with two belts on the line and will be headlined by a pro fight.

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Artem Lobov appeared on Ariel Helwani's show last night to detail the feud between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

This is the first time Artem has spoken about the whole situation publically since it happened. 

Lobov faces Michael Johnson this weekend at UFC Moncton.

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Conor McGregor posted the following breakdown, round by round, of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov on his Instagram this morning.

"Thoughts on my last fight. 

Round 1. I believe from a sport standpoint, round 1 was his. Top position against the fence. Zero position advancement or damage inflicted. But top position.
From a fight standpoint the first round is mine. 
Actual shots landed and a willingness to engage. Straight left early. Knee to the head on the low shot. Elbows in any and all tie up scenarios. Opponent just holding the legs against the fence for almost the entire round. 

Round 2 he is running away around the cage before being blessed with a right hand that changed the course of the round, and the fight. 
It was a nice shot. 
After the shot I bounced back up to engage instantly, but again he dipped under to disengage. That is the sport and it was a smart move that led to a dominant round, so no issue. Well played.
If I stay switched on and give his stand up even a little more respect, that right hand never gets close and we are talking completely different now.
I gave his upright fighting no respect in preparation. No specific stand up spars whatsoever. 
Attacking grapplers/wrestlers only.
That won’t happen again. 
I also gave my attacking grappling no respect. To defense minded. 
Lessons. 
Listen to nobody but yourself on your skill set. 
You are the master of your own universe. 
I am the master of this. 
I must take my own advice. 

Round 3. After the worst round of my fighting career, I come back and win this round. Again walking forward, walking him down, and willing to engage.

Round 4. My recovery was not where it could have been here. 
That is my fault. 
Although winning the early exchanges in 4, he dips under again and I end up in a bad position with over 3 on the clock. I work to regain position and end up upright, with my back to the fence. 
A stable position. 
Here however, I made a critical error of abandoning my over hook at this crucial time, exposing the back, and I end up beaten fair and square. 
What can I say? 
It was a great fight and it was my pleasure. 

I will be back with my confidence high. 
Fully prepared.
If it is not the rematch right away, no problem. 
I will face the next in line.
It’s all me always, anyway.
See you soon my fighting fans I love you all"

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It is safe to say Paulie Malignaggi is not a fan of Conor McGregor. The pair infamously fell out when the boxer was brought in to help the Irishman prepare for Floyd Mayweather.

That collaboration was all too brief as Malignaggi left the camp soon after in a well publicised beef between them. 

Speaking with iFL TV (transcript via Bloody Elbow) Malignaggi offered a very critical response to McGregor's recent loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“We win or we lose. That’s fine. And we go out as fighters, we go out as men, we go out with dignity,” Malignaggi told iFL TV. “That’s what competition is. But go out like a man. Don’t look to make contracts in the middle of the fight like ‘It was just business. Don’t hurt me. It was just business.’ You p-ssy.”

“I had my face falling off against Cotto,” he continued. “I would rather you chop my head off than to give you the satisfaction of me crying to you like a b-tch in the middle of the fight, when we still got to fight. When we still got to come out the next round. You p-ssy motherf—r. It was unbelievable what a p-ssy move that was.”

"Who begs their opponent to take it easy on them in the middle of a fight? I haven’t heard of something like that in my life, to be honest. That was a first for me," he would go on to say.

(skip to 7:10 for McGregor talk)

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MMA legend and former UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva was speaking with TMZ over the weekend and he said that he accepts Conor McGregor's challenge to a fight in the Octagon.

McGregor had told Ariel Helwani that a fight with Anderson Silva would greatly interest him.

”I would be interested in an Anderson Silva bout. I swear to God. Anderson is a legend in the game," said McGregor.

And now it looks like Anderson Silva is game too for this fight. The 43-year-old said he would get down to 180lbs to make this fight a catchweight.

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Conor McGregor was in Boston last night to watch a number of Irish boxers compete, including Katie Taylor. While at the fights he bumped into The Clones Colossus Kevin McBride, the Irish heavyweight boxer who was the last man to beat Mike Tyson.

The pair embraced and took pictures together (see below, skip to 0:40)

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It looks like Ireland's Joseph Duffy (17-3) is stepping back in the cage for the first time since November last year. A report from MMANYTT.com says the Donegal man will face Ross Pearson (20-15) at UFC Fight Night 142 in Adelaide, Australia on December 2.

In his last outing Duffy lost to James Vick via TKO in the second round at UFC 217, snapping a two-fight-win-streak for the lightweight. Overall the 30-year-old is 4-2 in the UFC.

Pearson will come into this contest having just won one of his past five fights. The TUF 9 winner is a long stay in the promotion with 25 fights now in the UFC. Although the Englishman is on a 1-5 skid, most of his losses have been via decision. Making him a tough challenge for the returning Joe Duffy.

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