Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov Are Perfect Trash-Talk Foils

When Conor McGregor takes on Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 229, he'll find himself in a rare position: that of the underdog.

As of Wednesday, Nurmagomedov is a narrow -155 favorite to upend the most famous fighter on the planet, according to OddsShark.

But there's something even more alien at play as we draw nearer to October 6. McGregor may have met his match on the microphone as well.

Thursday's news conference marks the first time these two will meet face to face since that fateful moment when an out-of-his-mind McGregor threw a hand truck at a bus containing Nurmagomedov. (McGregor later plead guilty to disorderly conduct.) 

In that remarkably Barnumesque fashion of his, McGregor is already stoking the public fires, promising entry to anyone who buys a bottle of his whiskey. There's just one problem—the event is purportedly closed to the public—but when did anyone know McGregor to sweat the details? 

The show is in town, and McGregor is the ringmaster. In fight seasons past, that status went unchallenged. McGregor always got his man, always stole the show. He set up a lemonade stand in Jose Aldo's head. He steamrolled a game-but-overmatched Eddie Alvarez. He ruined Jeremy Stephens forever. 

Even Nate Diaz couldn't hang. Diaz is a great fighter and a fun trash-talker, but in his mic duels with McGregor, he mainly relied on charisma. Everyone loves Diaz, but every salvo was some variation on "STFU" or "IDGAF" as McGregor unfurled reams of targeted material. Let's not pretend they were both playing chess there.

Can McGregor take it too far? You bet. Some of that smack with Diaz crossed the line. And he rightly became a villain in the runup to his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he told Mayweather, who is black, to "dance for me, boy."

That's disgusting and inexcusable, and McGregor does not get a pass there, at least not in some quarters. With many others, it doesn't seem to have diminished his popularity at all. That could be a testament to the power of his steady stream of smack, most of it inoffensive, to bury all other news angles.

Regardless, McGregor has finally met his trash-talking match in Nurmagomedov. The Russian isn't going to ignore or deflect or respond. He's going to do the same thing he does in the cage: look the other man in his eye and press the fight on his own terms.

It might be easy for the uninitiated to read Nurmagomedov's last name, take in his thick Russian accent and assume he's a trash-talk nonstarter, someone who would take the box turtle approach and fend off McGregor with pure opacity. Nurmagomedov isn't like that. 

Like McGregor, Nurmagomedov is brash, self-assured, smart and genuinely funny. He's also not always the most politically correct of people. His greatest hits are worth mining in detail, but it's not uncommon to hear him proclaim that he wants to beat up American fighters because of America's sanctions against Russia. Once, he questioned the cowboy credentials of Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. Who does that? 

"Cowboy is fake," he said, per MMA Fighting. "I don't think so he's really cowboy; I think he's fake. He all the time drink, drunk. I don't think so he's really cowboy. I'm really cowboy. I'm mountain guy. I'm training camp all my life; I'm wrestling with the bears."

Bears, you say. He also likes chickens, as in, that's what he wants to make McGregor inside the cage.

The coup d'etat, in my book, was Nurmagomedov telling a respected competitor in Michael Johnson that "you have to give up" during active competition. As he was raining blows on him. That's cold.

With Hand Truck Gate still fresh in everyone's minds, and with these egos involved, Thursday is about as can't-miss as can't-miss television can be. Sure, the fight is the real thing, and it will be fascinating to see whether Conor can connect with that lethal left or has developed enough wrestling to keep Nurmagomedov off of him. 

There is no immovable object here. These are two irresistible forces. Someone's getting trucked, and the collision begins Thursday.

For all his faults, McGregor is a great fighter and a smart guy. In Nurmagomedov, he finally has a foil on both fronts.