Khabib Nurmagomedov may have just thrown down the gauntlet in the post-UFC 229 controversy.
Nurmagomedov today posted on his Instagram feed a message to the UFC brass. His key point: If the UFC fires his teammates, chiefly Zubaira Tukhugov, for their roles in the post-fight melee, Nurmagomedov is prepared to go with them.
"If you think that I'll keep silent then you are mistaken," Nurmagomedov wrote in his post. "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."
Nurmagomedov (27-0 MMA, 11-0 UFC) submitted Conor McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in the fourth round of the UFC 229 main event to retain the lightweight title this past Saturday. After the fight was over, he went over the fence and into the crowd to go after one of McGregor's teammates, Dillon Danis. While that was happening outside the cage, another melee was happening inside the cage when some of Nurmagomedov's teammates, including Tukhugov came over the fence and got into it with McGregor.
Video footage from all kinds of angles show McGregor taking a swing on the fence, but then getting hit from behind. UFC President Dana White called the incident "disgusting," the Nevada State Athletic Commission started an immediate investigation, and also withheld Nurmagomedov's $2 million disclosed payday. McGregor's pay was not withheld. UFC 229 reportedly broke the promotion's pay-per-view buys record with estimates of around 2.4 million.
Blame has been all over the map for the post-fight brawl. Some say McGregor should be faulted for his extreme trash talk in the buildup to the fight. Some say Danis at cageside insulted Nurmagomedov's Islamic faith, prompting him to come over the fence in the first place.
And no one has forgotten when the entire beef started back in April, when McGregor arrived in Brooklyn with a crew of people and attacked a bus filled with fighters and teams at UFC 223 – including Nurmagomedov and his team. McGregor threw a metal hand cart into a bus window, and the shattered glass injured two fighters and led to the cancellation of two UFC 223 fights. McGregor was arrested, jailed and eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges that kept him from further jail time.
But the biggest salvo in this dispute yet perhaps just landed from Nurmagomedov, given he's the lightweight champion and essentially threatened to quit the organization in defense of not just Tukhugov, but, he said, the honor of his people and culture.
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