It seems like every week, Conor McGregor wants to one-up himself with regard to his antics. Whether its making the headlines for him confronting the Paul brothers, or launching online verbal onslaughts at his detractors, ‘The Notorious’ has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. This time, he’s in the news of going after a fan who taunted him, reminding him of his arch-rival Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Recently, a video resurfaced where it looks like McGregor spat in the face of a man who taunted him over his loss to the retired Hall of Famer. Just one little instigation after years and McGregor resorted to this? Chael Sonnen was onto something when he revealed that ‘Mystic Mac’ might be going through PTSD.  ‘The American Gangster’ said that McGregor might not have forgotten how Khabib defeated him in a humiliating manner at UFC 229.

Sonnen said, “Did Khabib Nurmagomedov give Conor McGregor PTSD and ruin his life? I’m not gonna quote what Conor said I don’t speak in these ways. It was that hot. It was so hot that Conor McGregor deleted some of it. This was not a close or competitive match. So does it come from PTSD? Is there something that bothers him and haunts him? And many guys will have that but it’s for their last one. Conor had several fights since then.”

There has never been a more historic rivalry in the entire sport of MMA than between the Irishman and the undefeated retired Dagestani. Even though they only fought once at UFC 229, the fight was iconic and the genuine hate between the two was palpable even from the screens at home, even after the bout was over. We don’t know about Khabib Nurmagomedov but for Conor, he doesn’t seem to have moved on from that haunting loss. Indeed, one can surmise that Nurmagomedov changed McGregor, given his violent reactions to the mention of ‘The Eagle’.

So did Sonnen hit the bullseye with this PTSD observation? He further continued, “It is to the point that he has taken his countrymen now. No one is safe. Is anyone on this path? Why? Is it just a performance? I’m open to that. But I’ve never seen Conor play before when there wasn’t a payoff. There’s no chance of those two touching each other In a competitive one on one situation. So what’s it all for? Unless there is some post-traumatic stress that is left over and it seems like is ruining Conor’s life.”

Well, Chael Sonnen isn’t the only one to have spoken about how ‘The Eagle’ might have changed the course of Conor McGregor’s career. Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammate Josh Thomson also spoke about the impact Nurmagomedov had on the Irishman. Let’s take a closer look.

Josh Thomson has similar thoughts to Sonnen on Conor McGregor’s PTSD

Thomson, on the Weighing-In podcast, said that 2018 was a pretty bad year for McGregor. Note that this was the same year when the alleged SA incident happened between Conor McGregor and Nikita Hand, something which made headlines six years later in 2024. Fans know well by now that all the fame and money might have changed Conor McGregor drastically. No longer is he the same man who would articulate himself in a calm and collected manner, and even dismantle his opponents with a wit and charm never seen before in MMA.

He said, “He’s taken a shift. He’s the heel, and he’s always kind of been the heel, but people also admired him and looked up to him before. The Khabib fight brought a negative out of him. I felt like he was afraid of Khabib.” 

The Dagestani was a threat to ‘The Notorious’ and in the striker vs grappler bout, McGregor lost brutally especially because he had made the fight personal. He had insulted Nurmagomedov’s faith, ethnicity, and family. Thomson continued, “He knew there was a legitimate threat, and there was nothing he could do about it. There was nothing he thought for sure, ‘If I can catch him, I can knock him out sure’, but I think he knew that in a five-round fight, it was going to be very difficult.” 

Cut to the present day, and Khabib has retired and moved on to coaching his team. On the other hand, McGregor isn’t sure, himself, of when he’ll fight next. What lies in the future of ‘The Notorious’? Let us know in the comments down below.