UFC 229: Conor McGregor Hopes, Surprisingly, For Grappling Exchanges With Khabib Nurmagomedov

Conor McGregor has promised a devastating knockout of Khabib Nurmagomedov when they meet this Saturday at UFC 229 for the lightweight title — however, he also hopes to showcase some of his ground game during the fight as well.

McGregor returns to action in Las Vegas for the first time in nearly two years when he challenges for Nurmagomedov's 155-pound strap in a bout that many consider a classic striker vs. grappler encounter.

With this fight in particular though, many, including UFC fighters, either predict the contest ending via McGregor knockout or Nurmagomedov dominating him on the ground like he has with nearly all his opponents.

Despite this, McGregor, somewhat surprisingly, is hoping for some grappling exchanges with the Dagestan native.

“100 percent my striking will be the answer but I hope there are grappling exchanges," McGregor told Megan Olivi in a recent interview. "I hope I don’t go in there and spark this man really quick. I’ve heard many people say I’m just a left-handed fighter which is very ­disrespectful to me."

"There's many skills in my arsenal, I hope we get a chance to show that and we can make a fight out of it. And I can showcase skills that may have been forgotten by the mixed martial arts public when they saw me compete in the boxing bout last year," he said.

There is a common belief for many MMA fans that McGregor lacks a ground game, whether it's wrestling or grappling.

Some point at how Chad Mendes, on short notice, was able to take him down regularly and give him a beating on the ground during their UFC 189 encounter while others point to how Nate Diaz easily submitted him when the Irishman shot for a takedown at UFC 196 two years ago. There's also the fact that all three of McGregor's MMA losses have come by submission.

However, the 30-year-old has also shown he has good overall takedown defense throughout his UFC career and has been working on his wrestling ahead of UFC 229, which striking coach Owen Roddy believes is an underrated part of his game.

“It’s [wrestling] one of the regular classes that Conor will [attend]," Roddy said while speaking of McGregor's wrestling coach Sergey Pikulskiy, according to MMA Fighting. "He will rarely miss the wrestling class. And Conor’s takedown defense is phenomenal and that’s down to Sergey and some of the stuff that John [Kavanagh] does on the wall."

“People don’t really see [McGregor’s wrestling] because they don’t get a chance to see it because [his opponents] are usually asleep before it gets there, but you’ve seen some of it with the likes of [Eddie Alvarez]. His takedown defense for the Alvarez fight, for the one or two times Alvarez did get him up against the cage, he couldn’t get him down. He has the skills there and Sergey is a phenomenal, phenomenal wrestling coach. We’re very lucky to have him onboard," he added.

UFC 229 takes place Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.