Brendan Schaub Says He "Would Never" Go To UFC 229, Fearing Major Violence In The Crowd Between The Russians And The Irish
(Timestamp 7:30)
I really hope my mom doesn’t read this blog.
Brendan Schaub went on the Joe Rogan Experience yesterday, as I believe we all know already, but I just wanted to focus in on this exchange between him and Joe about UFC 229 for a second…
Schaub: “Like Jamie told me he’s going to the fight…I would NEVER go to this fight. I would never go to this fight for this reason: I’m a complete pussy. I think something’s gonna happen in the crowd between the Russians and the Irish.
Rogan: “Why do you think that?”
Schaub: “Just the animosity between the two, they hate each other so bad. If this fight [goes] for Conor, you’re gonna have upset Russians, if it [goes] for Khabib, you’re gonna have upset fucking Irish, I think…it’s gonna bigger than just a UFC fight. It’s so hostile.
Sooooo I guess you could crank my poop meter up to eleven after that. That definitely makes me have to poop!
I’ll get real in this blog: I’m pretty nervous being in this city right now. Like Schaub said, McGregor/Nurmagomedov is more than just a UFC fight now, it’s pretty much legitimate war, and I’ve intertwined myself in that. I’ve literally seen multiple articles that feature images of me with the “FREE CONOR” sign outside the courthouse, trying to weave my ridiculousness into the narrative of this fight. It’s bananas!
But obviously, with that comes equal passion from both sides. For every Irish newspaper giving me a pat on the back and telling me I’m a good cunt, there’s a Russian death threat entering my DMs telling me I’m a bad cunt. Some of which get prettay…prettay…prettay descriptive, and VERY scary.
So, this in mind, do I regret saying all of the things I said, and doing all of the things I’ve done in the build to UFC 229?
No.
Of course not. It’s all great for content. The UFC bought a three-episode series from us, promoting UFC 229 watchparties (first episode premieres tonight at 7pm) because even they recognize that what we’re doing here is really working, and getting people more and more invested in the fight by the day.
BUT, when the cameras and microphones are turned off at the end of the night, I’ve still got the wrong people very upset with me. I’m still looking over my shoulder every two seconds, dead-bolting my hotel room door and throwing a chair in front of it before bed, walking around the city in a legitimate disguise (not the Calloway Pickard get-up). I’m barely picking up my phone, distrusting every Uber driver I speak with, and doing everything I could possibly do from my hotel room – from my hotel room. I’ve already gotten stares and comments made by passerby’s on the strip that make it pretty clear they don’t want me here.
I’m not looking for sympathy with this blog post, as I’ve done it all to myself. Oh, and obviously because I’m still poking the bear – and will continue to poke the bear until I’m dead or Khabib is, but I’m just letting you into my world a little bit this week to make Schaub’s statement ring a little more true. Not every McGregor fan is in danger, and neither are all of Khabib’s fans, but there is certainly an animosity between these two camps that is so real and genuine that it doesn’t stop at the camp, they’ll extended their death threats to 20-year-old twerps with Star Wars tattoos. No fight in the history of mixed martial arts has ever felt like war more than this one.
And we will win this war.
So I’ll see you’s all at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night. If you’re going to be there as well, please stay safe.
Hopefully, after Khabib is slept in the first round, the Russians will behave. If they don’t tho…
P.S. Look at all this nice shit Dave said about me!
Dave saying he would prefer me to stay alive than get killed by the Russian is as good a compliment I’ve gotten from Dave in over a year, so I was legit stoked when Deke fired those tweets off yesterday. How far we’ve come!