Topic: Fighter News & Gossip
Khabib Threatens to Leave the UFC if Zubaira Tukhugov is Released
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10.11.2018 | 1:10 PM ET
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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 moments later. UFC President Dana White said he was “disgusted and sick” over the incident, 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. (Danis late Wednesday denied those claims in a statement.)
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. McGregor’s bus attack was a response to Nurmagomedov allegedly slapping another of McGregor’s teammates, Artem Lobov, in an incident the day before.
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.
Here is the full Nurmagomedov statement from Instagram from his English translation:
I would like to address @ufc. Why didn’t you fire anyone when their team attacked the bus and injured a couple of people? They could have killed someone there, why no one says anything about insulting my homeland, religion, nation, family?
Why do you have to punish my team, when both teams fought. If you say that I started it, then I do not agree, I finished what he had started.
In any case, punish me, @zubairatukhugov has nothing to do with that. If you think that I’ll keep silent then you are mistaken. You canceled Zubaira’s fight and you want to dismiss him just because he hit Conor. But don’t forget that it was Conor who had hit my another Brother FIRST, just check the video.
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.
And one more thing, you can keep my money that you are withholding. You are pretty busy with that, I hope it won’t get stuck in your throat. We have defended our honor and this is the most important thing. We intend to go to the end.
#Brothers
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That's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off for him.
Thoughts?
* Edited at 10.11.2018, 1:19 PM ET *
"..."
Responses
10.11.2018 | 3:01 PM ET
"Where are my shoes?"
10.11.2018 | 4:29 PM ET
One thing is for sure though, he will keep his word. He's a Sufi. These guys are basically the monks of Islam and are extremely devout.
10.11.2018 | 5:48 PM ET
-McGregord buss attack should make him fired...
-Artem Lobov part in the buss attack should make him fired...
-McGregor racist and Islamist insult should make him fired...
With that Dana get the best UFC PPV record ever.... Now deal with it
"Never go down without a fight"
10.11.2018 | 5:51 PM ET
For the first time of m'I life I was interest in a fight of the GOAT Artem Lobov!
* Edited at 10.11.2018, 5:56 PM ET *
"Never go down without a fight"
10.11.2018 | 6:20 PM ET
10.11.2018 | 6:33 PM ET
However in this case, if Khabib is left to wonder the world that could be very dangerous for everyone. He has the disposition to where he could easily be radicalized (like Adlan Amagov) by an extremist group. That's the stuff of nightmares.
"I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture, and kill them."
10.11.2018 | 6:43 PM ET
Let's be real; Muslims don't need much of a prod to go ape****. That's what makes it the worst religion in existence; it's underwritten by a violent credo. That doesn't mean he should get a pass, but what happened wasn't worse than what Conor did, or even close to being as bad. Conor also threw the first punch. If the punishments for khabib and his team mates are harsher....expect bad things. Not necessarily from khabib and his people, but from the Islamic community more broadly.
This needs to be carefully negotiated.
10.11.2018 | 6:49 PM ET
10.11.2018 | 6:53 PM ET
Doubt Khabib will have Visa issues really. Especially since Putin is now a khabib fan and Herr Trump is his *****. Watch very little come of this.
10.11.2018 | 6:56 PM ET
10.11.2018 | 6:57 PM ET
Negotiated carefully lol or what? *** are they gonna do about it? Nootin'. They'll do fookin nootin'. NONE of yaz gon' do ****. USA owns the world.
* Edited at 10.11.2018, 7:01 PM ET *
10.11.2018 | 7:05 PM ET
"I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture, and kill them."
10.11.2018 | 7:06 PM ET
Care to wager? Sig bet. Khabib doesn't get his Visa stripped.
10.11.2018 | 7:08 PM ET
Imagine if dudes in suits rolled up with fully-automatic weapons. He beg for life. Keep milking that muslim D ya soft a$$ cowards. We bomb their children on a daily-basis without remorse or repercussion.
* Edited at 10.11.2018, 7:21 PM ET *
10.11.2018 | 7:09 PM ET
10.11.2018 | 7:14 PM ET
"I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture, and kill them."
10.11.2018 | 7:15 PM ET
10.11.2018 | 7:18 PM ET
* Edited at 10.11.2018, 7:22 PM ET *
10.11.2018 | 7:20 PM ET
The stuff of nightmares is hearing what sounds like thousands of airplanes over your biggest city and watching a giant black dot drop from the skies right before it incinerates you and millions of others in an instant.
10.11.2018 | 7:24 PM ET