Khabib Nurmagomedov has taken to Instagram to address the UFC, threatening to quit if they do not take his demands seriously.
Last week, Nurmagomedov defeated Conor McGregor in what was billed as the biggest fight in UFC history, taking his record to 27 professional fights undefeated.
And the biggest fight it was – as punches were thrown not only within the Octagon, but outside of it too. Immediately after McGregor tapped out in the fourth round, Nurmagomedov leapt over the barriers and started attacking members of McGregor’s team.
As this happened, members of Nurmagomedov’s entourage took advantage of the situation and attacked McGregor inside the Octagon, one of them striking him on the back of the head.
Subsequently, the attackers were arrested by police and both fighters were given police escorts out of the arena. Khabib wasn’t given his belt after UFC President Dana White stated that there were ‘security concerns’.
White said at the post-fight press conference:
Conor was one of the guys who was attacked but Conor refuses to press charges. The guys that they did have, they’ve released.
There were three guys who I think were from Khabib’s team and they were arrested but they were released because Conor didn’t want to press charges
Zubaira Tukhugov, a fellow UFC fighter, was later named as one of the three men who was arrested. After the fight, Tukhugov took to social media to tell his followers about the attack.
According to journalist Karim Zidan, he says in the video:
I slapped him as promised. I promised to make him answer for his words and I did.
And there have since been repercussions. According to Low Kick, Dana White said those arrested will not fight in the UFC again.
He said:
Of course, of course. The guys who jumped in will never fight here. They’ll never fight here. Listen, I’ve been working hard for 18 years to build this sport.
Tukhugov subsequently had his fight cancelled, leading to questions being raised by Khabib’s team. Khabib himself is not happy with the outcome, and he took to Instagram to tell his millions of followers that he will quit the UFC if Tukhugov is not allowed to fight.
In the post, he demands that the UFC punish him for the events that unfolded on October 6, not Tukhugov, before making the bold statement:
If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too. We never give up on our brothers in Russia and I will go to the end for my Brother. If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I’ll break it myself.
He also makes reference to the reason he started the fight, stating that Conor insulted his homeland, religion, nation and family.
His fans agreed with him, offering him words of support:
Honor, faith, loyalty & brotherhood.
I’m so proud of you
Love your Loyalty to your brothers
Whatever happens, I think it’s fair to say this fight has been the biggest talking point of 2018 in the UFC world.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).