Khabib Nurmagomedov had just won the most important fight of his life, a fourth-round submission against the brashest UFC fighter in history, Conor McGregor. Then, at his professional zenith, he basically re-imagined Ron Artest's Malice at the Palace when he jumped out of the octagon and attacked McGregor's teammate, Dillon Danis, igniting a post-fight brawl that saw multiple people arrested, and Khabib's winnings—$2 million—held captive as the Nevada State Athletic Commission investigates the melee that followed.
Now a spectator has shared what was said that pushed him over the edge. According to a ringside witness who spoke to TMZ, McGregor's teammate Dillon Danis called Khabib a "fucking Muslim rat." That's when the undefeated Russian tossed his mouth-guard aside, leapfrogged the octagon and gave fans a second fight, while a battered McGregor defended himself from one of Khabib's crew.
The whole fight was a powder keg waiting for the fight's flame following McGregor's trademark smack leading up to the fight. Like has happened in the past, he got vicious, calling his opponent a "mad backward c**t" and his opponent's father a "quivering coward."
Khabib explained his thinking—or more aptly, reaction—after the fight, saying that the insults from McGregor's corner crossed a line. "This is not my best side," Khabib said in the post-fight press conference before alluding to the insults without quoting them. "He talked about my religion, he talked about my country, he talked about my father. He came to Brooklyn, he broke bus and nearly killed two people. So why do people still talk about me jumping over the cage? I have shown respect."
Clemency is true strength, and following the fight on Saturday night, Khabib's father took to Instagram to forgive his son's antagonist, despite all the disrespect shown him. “I forgive Conor McGregor for what he said,” he wrote. “It is necessary to analyze what happened in the past and learn lessons from it...We have decided to move to other heights. I hope this is a blessing.”
Khabib's trainer, Ali Abdelaziz, wasn't as magnanimous about McGregor as the fighter's father, writing on IG (below), "This is not the way we want to celebrate such a dominant performance but when you talk about people’s country, family and religion and intentionally try to kill someone like he said and the cornermen running their mouths after, this is the fight game & shit happens."
Abdelaziz thanked fans and apologized to organizers before getting one last dig in at McGregor. "I want to apologize to the Nevada athletic commission, the Governor of Nevada and I want to thank Las Vegas police department and security for doing such an unbelievable job. Now everyone understands who’s the amateur here.”
