UFC 229 Live Fight: Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov Saturday Oct 06, 2018. How to watch Live Streaming Live, Preview, Highlights, Broadcast / Telecast and more.
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Khabib Nurmagomedov defends his lightweight title against Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 229 on Saturday in Las Vegas Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
UFC 229 is finally here.
The biggest fight of Khabib Nurmagomedov's career. Another chapter in the legend of Conor McGregor. And one of the most highly-anticipated UFC cards of the year.
Top to bottom, this fight for the future, starting with the titanic main event between Nurmagomedov and McGregor which will be determined by the king of arguably the sport's deepest division. Nurmagomedov has never lost in 26 pro fights, McGregor has lost just once in 10 UFC appearances.
The co-headliner is more than worthy of his own indefinable Tony Ferguson looks to run when he takes Anthony Pettis. But it is only scheduled for three rounds, Ferguson would be looking for a champion's statement after being stripped of an interim title, while Pettis could steal his thunder with an upset win.
In other hand, heavy heavyweight finishers Ovince Saint Preux and Dominick Reyes Derrick Lewis faces fast-rising heavyweight Alexander Volkov, who is 4-0 in the UFC so far, and strawweight veterans Michelle Waterson and Felice Herrig is competing in the contenders' circle of the heated 115-pound division.
The UFC matchmakers should be applauded for putting together such a strong hand card, one that will have the most proficient prognosticators questioning their picks until the cage doors close.
What: UFC 229
Where: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas
When: Saturday, Oct. 6. The three-fight UFC Fight Pass begins at 6:30 pm ET, the four-fight FOX Sports 1 preliminary card begins at 8 pm ET, and the five-fight pay-per-view hand card begins at 10 pm ET.
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor
Predicting this fight should be easy: Khabib Nurmagomedov's wrestling is too much for Conor McGregor. Once he gets the takedown, Nurmagomedov will simply do what he does, and that's how his life is going to be a hell of hell with non-stop ground-and-pound and repeated trips to the mat.
Simple, right?
And yet nothing is simple when it comes to "The Notorious."
Chad Mendes was the first wrestler who was going to derail the McGregor hype train. Then the legendary Jose Aldo was going to make up the work of the Irish upstart. There was no way McGregor could beat Nate Diaz in their rematch after being humbled in the first encounter. And Eddie Alvarez was supposed to stomp out McGregor's dreams of two-division supremacy.
One by one, McGregor inevitably got the better of each one of them, guided by his slick striking and seemingly most ironclad chin. He faced plenty of adversity along the way, especially in the two Diaz butts, but the man himself did not hesitate to talk about his resilience, and there is some truth in that.
If anyone can come back from being taken in by Nurmagomedov, it's McGregor, but therein lies the big "if". It could not be possible for any fighter to stop Nurmagomedov when his wrestling is on point.
Neither man gets enough credit for shoring up their weaknesses. Nurmagomedov out-struck the hard-hitting Al Iaquinta for much of their five-round encounter in April, and McGregor actually showed flashes of his grappling potential when he managed to sweep Diaz in their first encounter (though he would later lose by submission, it was desperately looking for the Diaz pieced him up on the feet).
But at the end of the day, this will come down to which man can impose their greatest strength on the contest. And there are few people who are better at anything in MMA than Nurmagomedov is at wrestling. If there's any chance that McGregor has "Octagon rust" having not competed in MMA since November 2016, that will make it even easier for Nurmagomedov to take control.
And if McGregor's suspect gas tank rears it's ugly head, it might not be 25 minutes.
Nurmagomedov by third-round TKO.
Pick: Nurmagomedov