Conor McGregor is a man of few defeats.
And Joe Duffy has dominated most of the coverage of the pair of losses that “The Notorious” has experiences in his professional career.
But two years before Duffy submitted McGregor, Artemij Sitenkov did the same and put an end to the Dubliner’s perfect pro record up to that point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRNF-xDBme4
Lithuania’s Sitenkov got the tap from McGregor seven years ago via a first round kneebar and with McGregor facing the biggest fight of his life tonight, Sitenkov was asked about the 2008 bout.
“In those days, even if I won, I was supposed to pretend that it was by accident,” Sitenkov told Sport.ru, as translated by BloodyElbow.
“Otherwise, I would be simply not be invited back to fight in the future. I was good at it. At the time, the Irish didn’t suspect that I was a good fighter, and John Kavanagh, McGregor’s coach, just held his tournaments under the name Cage of Truth. I can even show you a trophy for defeating Conor.
“It’s a metal one (trophy) but sounds shitty, which means it was made from the cheapest material. This wreath is from plastic and glued right here and with these twigs and tablet the same story. It’s just cheap Chinese garbage (laughs).
“For beating McGregor, I got this cup and 500 euros.”
Sitenkov, who won five straight fights after overcoming McGregor, also explained why he believes SBG head coach and then-promoter John Kavanagh selected the Lithuanian as an opponent for his protege.
“John thought that McGregor could defeat me,” Sitenkov said. “According to his words, I was a fighter who already had experience in overseas performances, was in the rankings and they didn’t have to pay me much. I paid for a ticket from my pocket and flew to Ireland to fight.”
“[McGregor] cried after the fight. Kavanagh came to him and consoled him.”
