A few updates here:
Some people are claiming that Conor didn’t say “It’s only business”. What he said was “Don’t kiss us”. It’s hard to tell what he actually said. Both versions of what he might have said have gotten support by different groups of people.
Some also argue that the “It’s only business” interpretation was simply about the cheating that Conor did during that round, specifically about him hooking his fingers into the inside of Khabib’s glove, and in that context it is basically him saying to Khabib that by doing what he did he is just looking out for his own interest, as in basically saying something like I got to do what I got to do. That is the argument anyway.
The initial claim, which is also the counter argument to that interpretation, is that Conor said “It’s only business” to get Khabib to understand that the beef and all the insults leading up to the fight weren’t personal and it was just to promote the fight. This interpretation has its support and its own criticism as well. The incident took place Right after the third round just ended, which was the first round that the judges scored in Conor’s favor. So why would he say that when the fight started going in his favor? To play mind games? The previous round is also when Khabib did the most ground and pound punishment on him and was also talking to him during the beating, basically telling Conor things like “Let’s talk now!!”, “Talk now!!” Which is audiable in some clips online. Some people also argue that Conor tried to touch gloves in the beginning of the third round which Khabib dismissed to which some people have said that it only looked that way on the broadcast camera angle but it wasn’t the case from the different views.
Anyway, that was the “It’s only business” discussion.
Some people claim that Conor’s corner was shouting insults at Khabib during the fight, and according to TMZ things like “Fucking Muslim rat” were also shouted out by them.
Apparently Conor has already called Dana White to ask for a rematch. Dana didn’t answer whether Conor would get an immediate rematch or not, he said that they will first see what happens to Khabib and the commission ruling regarding the post fight riot first. Dana also mentioned that Tony and Pettis have been in the line for a title shot as well.
Dana also suggested a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 months suspension for Khabib with a $250,000 fine. This is of course not something up to Dana but there is actually a lot of cooperation between the UFC and the commissions since it is more of a partnership rather than a party ruling over the other.
Some good videos that highlight the latest updates below:
The latest updates as of today:
UFC community and UFC fighters reactions to the fight and the incident that followed it:
A summary of what took place inside and outside the ring the night of the fight:
A video highlighting some of the cheating that Conor did during the fight that went unpunished and mostly missed or dismissed:
A compilation of a few interesting videos after the fight and a bunch of memes about the whole thing:
A bonus video of two dudes reviewing Conor’s whiskey. Jump to 4 minutes if you want to skip the intro talk and all the glass sniffing:
