Khabib's bizarre response to UFC 229 backlash
After the madness from UFC 229’s wild ending and post-fight melee settled, there was the business of news conferences to attend to – and it was weird.
Even though he didn’t get his belt in the Octagon, Khabib Nurmagomedov was the defending lightweight UFC champion when all was said and done.
It earned him a congratulatory phone call from his President Vladamir Putin, and produced a bizarre response from the Russian.
“I don’t understand how people talk about I jump on the cage,” Khabib said.
“What about he talk about my religion, he talk about my country, he talk about my father?
“He come to Brooklyn, and he broke bus, he almost killed a couple of people. What about this, what about this s—? Why people talk about I jump over the cage? Why people still talk about this?”
Before Khabib turned the blame onto McGregor however, he did offer an apology of sorts – perhaps in an attempt to appease the commission regarding his UFC future.
“First of all, I want to say sorry to athletic commission, Nevada, sorry to Vegas,” Khabib said.
“I know this is not my best side. This is not my best side. I am human being.”
Khabib didn’t take any media questions during the media session, and called for respect in the fight game to be restored.
“Media a little bit changed MMA,” Khabib said.
“This is respect sport. This is not trash-talking sport. I want to change this game. I don’t want people to talk s— about, like opponents, talk s— about his father, like religion.
“You cannot talk about religion, you cannot talk about nation. Guys, you cannot talk about this stuff. Guys for me, this is very important.”
At the end of it all, Khabib had his belt and his phone call from Putin – but he’s still awaiting his check from the UFC.
Crazy fan footage shows Khabib’s full rampage
Here’s what the crazy aftermath to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s win over Conor McGregor looked like if you were in the crowd.
New fan footage shows the moment Khabib launched at McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis after jumping out of the Ocatgon.
Fans recoiled in shock as Khabib lunged at Danis, before a crazy all-in brawl broke out.
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Khabib thwarted McGregor’s bid to regain the UFC lightweight crown with a dominant submission victory in their grudge match.
Nurmagomedov improved to 27-0 in his professional career — 11-0 in UFC bouts — with the win at a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The UFC lightweight champion had McGregor on the ground less than a minute into the opening round and kept the Irish fighter — a former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion — on his back for much of the fight.
McGregor managed to stay on his feet for most of the third round, but the once feared striker couldn’t hurt Nurmagomedov and in the fourth, the champion took him down again.
McGregor managed to roll away briefly before Nurmagomedov ended up in a full mount, getting him in a brutal rear-naked chokehold that had McGregor tapping out at 3min 3sec of the round.
Nurmagomedov had barely released his hold when he launched himself over the Octagon fence, apparently targeting McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis.
As security tried to quell the chaos in the crowd, two people from Nurmagomedov’s camp leapt into the cage, one of them taking a shot at the exhausted McGregor, who eventually departed in a huddle of security personnel.
Nurmagomedov was also hustled out surrounded by security officers as the pro-McGregor crowd jeered and threw drinks at him.