I've personally heard some rumors about things that happened backstage before the fight. I didn't want to share at first but now it's getting reported by various news outlets. Here's a quote from Jon Anik....."But all of a sudden, it seemed like his colour was gone, his confidence didn’t seem there, the smile wasn’t there, there were maybe some rumblings about some things or some circumstances backstage".
He also tells Kenny Florian - " I know u picked Conor to win. But if u could've changed ur pick right before the fight based on visual clues and stuff maybe we were hearing going on in the back, ud have a different pick". To which Florian says, "yeah, definitely".
So I'll ask u sleuths, what exactly happened. Who were the ppl? I have a hard time believing Conor was shook just from things being a little 'chaotic" or because someone walked by his dressing room.
I've heard from someone at the arena that a couple unknown, yet official looking and seemingly unquestioned guys came in at one point and briefly talked to Conor. There was no yelling. No aggressive behavior. However, as soon as they left Conor, who was visibly upset, immediately went for his phone to contact someone.
I'm not saying it was the Russian Mafia telling him to take a dive.(like some people r claiming) It may have been someone saying...."the little one has a fever, call Dee." You would think that info could wait til after the fight, unless it was life or death, though.
Also, was Conor the only fighter to come down without a shirt on??? Not a big deal normally, but it could indicate he was in a rush or his mind was elsewhere.
Has anyone heard anything else reliable?
Edit - Here's a link to the Anik tweet n article. Working on a video of the podcast with a timestamp.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.givemesport.com/1401427-jon-aniks-tweet-about-backstage-issues-for-conor-mcgregor-at-ufc-229?amp
Edit 2 - Here's the podcast. He says what I quoted starting at 32:50.