Choker: Khabib trolls 'tap machine' Conor McGregor with images of Irishman getting submitted at different weight classes

Conor McGregor has made much of his supposedly effortless shift up and down the UFC weight classes, but one man unimpressed is Russian nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov.

McGregor needed just 40 seconds to starch Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 246 in Las Vegas last weekend, in the Irishman’s first octagon outing since his defeat to Khabib in October 2018.

READ MORE: Conor McGregor crushes Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds at UFC 246

McGregor's comeback was at welterweight, and the Irishman proudly proclaimed afterwards that his stoppage of Cerrone meant he was the first UFC fighter to claim KO/TKO wins in three different weight classes.

“Who has gone up and down divisions, and stopping people like that, with knockout victories? I’m very proud of that accomplishment,” McGregor crowed.

“I’m the first fighter in UFC history to secure knockout victories – at featherweight, at lightweight, and now welterweight – across three divisions.

“The UFC, they can strip fighters and give other fighters make-believe belts in order to replicate my champ-champ status.

"But they can’t give knockout victories across multiple weight divisions! So there we go again! Etch my name in history one more time!”         

Other fighters have in fact claimed TKO/KO wins across three divisions before, although McGregor rightly noted that he is the first to do so in the UFC at featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.

But while McGregor has claimed victory in those three divisions, he’s also tasted defeat – as UFC lightweight champ Khabib pointed out in a goading tweet on Friday.

The undefeated Russian, who has dubbed McGregor 'a tap machine', shared a picture of himself choking out the Dubliner in their 155lbs bout at UFC 229.

Above that he showed Nate Diaz doing the same in their first bout at 170lbs in 2016, while a third picture showed McGregor’s defeat to fellow Irishman Joe Duffy after just 38 seconds at Cage Warriors 39 way back in 2010.

That image appears to have been wrongly captioned as a 145lbs bout when it was actually at lighweight – although McGregor was submitted by kneebar at featherweight early in his career against Lithuanian Artemij Sitenkov.   

The tweet risks sparking yet more animosity with McGregor, 31, who has identified a rematch with Khabib as being part of his 2020 comeback trail, although he has also talked up a potential bout with the UFC’s ‘BMF’ titleholder Jorge Masvidal.

Khabib, meanwhile, defends his lightweight title against long-time rival Tony Ferguson in New York in April, and has thus far dismissed the Irishman of being worthy of running it back with him. 

However, UFC chief Dana White has said that with his spectacular comeback win against Cerrone, McGregor has earned a direct shot at the UFC 155lbs title.