Conor McGregor had stayed rather quiet about his below-par performance against Khabib Nurmagomedov for the first two weeks after UFC 229.

However, the outspoken Irishman finally put down all of his thoughts in a 411-word Instagram post published on Tuesday, in which he admitted he was beaten “fair and square”.

McGregor was outclassed by his Russian opponent at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on that ill-fated night earlier this month. On this occasion, he had to hold his hands up and admit the better fighter had won.

Taking the time to explain why he lost the fight, the 30-year-old provided a round-by-round analysis on his Instagram page and promised that he would be back “fully prepared” with his “confidence high”.

He believes he conceded the opening two rounds and feels his biggest mistake occurred in the fourth round.

“Although winning the early exchanges in 4, he dips under again and I end up in a bad position with over 3 on the clock,” McGregor wrote. “I work to regain position and end up upright, with my back to the fence. A stable position. Here however, I made a critical error of abandoning my over hook at this crucial time, exposing the back, and I end up beaten fair and square.”

Khabib's manager responds with brutal post

However, McGregor’s honest post has sparked a remarkable reaction from Khabib’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz.

The controversial figure who represents Khabib has posted his own lengthy Instagram post in direct response to McGregor - and to describe it as brutal would be an understatement.

“First of all the champion @khabib_nurmagomedov is too busy enjoying his life and his family and does not give a s*** what anyone says but this is my response to this weak soul, him and his sorry ass team already making some stupid ass excuses,” he began.

“1) When a man gets held against his will and listens to you gasp for air, hopeless on your back how do you win a fight? If this was a street fight you’d be done. You got out grappled and out wrestled, looking like a little child.

“2) Second round - the wrestler/grappler out struck you and hit you with a K Bomb and put you on your ass, taken down and hit with missile strikes from the guard and getting smashed in front of your whole family & crew.

“3) Khabib stood the whole round with you to make a point that you’re a front runner. If you can knock someone else you give up like you did 5 times in your fighting career. THEN YOU MENTIONED THIS IS ONLY BUSINESS YOU PUT YOUR WHITE FLAG IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE

“4th round - God put mercy in Khabibs heart and decided to show the world you’re a tap machine and put on a neck crank that wasn’t even a choke. The proper technique is 2 on 1 try to peel the arm and defend the neck crank. You put your two hands on the ground and your hand only came up when you were ready to tap.

“It’s embarrassing, if you would have beat Khabib. It would have been fair and square you win w no excuses. Now If you can’t make us 100m we know you can’t go fight somebody else because your ass is not getting a rematch.

“Go open a liquor store and focus on selling alcohol especially after all the s*** you talked. Just stfu and move on. @ufc #100mill”

Wow. That’s what you call a devastating response.

And because he lost the fight, McGregor surely has no comeback to Abdelaziz’s post, which has unsurprisingly sparked a huge reaction in the comments section.

Talk about rubbing salt into his wounds.