The fight of the year is almost upon us, we are less than 48 hours away from finding out who will be victorious between ‘The Notorious’ and ‘Money’.
The fight is set to start on Saturday night at 8pm, (Las Vegas time) between McGregor and Mayweather, and all sorts of hype is surrounding the bout.
But one man is making a scene outside of the ring, and you’d be forgiven for thinking he was actually McGregor, because it’s precisely what he wants.
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Islam Badurgov, from Kazakhstan, first received online attention after posting a workout video in which he bears a strong resemblance to Conor.
From then on, he decided to lean into the persona and even got fake tattoos and makeup to closely resemble the UFC champion.
Predictably, the internet blew up, and fans on the streets actually believed he was the real deal – to be fair he looks scarily similar.
Badurgov told the BBC:
A lot of people call me the Kazakh Conor McGregor but Conor McGregor is not popular only in Kazakhstan, he’s popular all over the world.
It’s hard to explain but I get so much energy from the crowds that it overwhelms me.
Conor deserves so much respect for what he’s done and it motivates me to do what I do.
Badurgov is currently in Las Vegas capitalising on his lookalike status – he’s even been dubbed the ‘McDoppelganger’.
He’s confessed, in order to keep up the charade of his McGregor persona, he can’t stay in any one place for more than five minutes.
Speaking about whether he would fight step inside the ring, Islam said:
For the right money I would go and fight Floyd Mayweather instead. Why not?
Islam continued:
I think if I can catch him with one punch I can send him to sleep.
I mean, the guy looks like an absolute tank but I’m not sure he could actually put Money to sleep – it’s a big ask!
Just remember though Islam, you’re not actually McGregor.
