Khabib Nurmagomedov

Conor McGregor has once again taken to social media to fire shots at Khabib Nurmagomedov. 

After video of a press conference showing Nurmagomedov criticizing several fighters, including McGregor and Jose Aldo, made its way around the internet, the Irishman responded on Twitter (warning: contains profanity):

https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/1429152459050545160

https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/1429152341899452417

The English translation of the quotes in the video McGregor responded to read:

"[Aldo] got beat up when he fought ... Petr [Yan] right? A guy wins one fight and everyone starts talking. When Conor fought Cowboy [Cerrone] he looked like a lion. When he fights stronger opponents he looks like a scared chicken. 

"Fighting top fighters shows your worth. ... A fight against Cowboy won't show what level you're at. Just like Aldo's fight against Pedro Munhoz. Let him fight Petr the same way and then we can say he's peaking again."

Nurmagomedov's comments weren't that inflammatory. 

Aldo rebounded from his loss to Yan with back-to-back unanimous-decision wins over Marlon Vera and Pedro Munhoz, but it's been several years since the 34-year-old was regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. 

Cerrone entered his fight against McGregor coming off two straight losses. He was dropped 40 seconds into the first round by McGregor for a TKO loss. The 38-year-old is winless in his past six fights dating back to June 2019. 

Despite the clamoring for a second bout between Nurmagomedov and McGregor, which has remained a topic of discussion amid repeated barbs thrown in both directions, there doesn't appear to be any indication that the Eagle is going to end his retirement for another UFC bout. 

Nurmagomedov announced he was stepping away from mixed martial arts after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October. He retired from the sport with a perfect 29-0 record, including 13 straight wins in the UFC dating back to 2012. 

McGregor will likely be out until 2022 after suffering a broken tibia in the first round of his fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on July 10.     

Former UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov thought longtime rival Conor McGregor crossed a clear line with a since-deleted tweet that many thought referenced Khabib's late father, Abdulmanap.

"When [Conor] talked about this, only evil can talk about your father, wife, kids, religion," Nurmagomedov said on Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson (via TMZ Sports). "If you're normal human, you're never going to talk about this stuff."

After McGregor lost to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on July 10, Khabib tweeted that "Good always defeats evil."

Good always defeats evil.
Very happy for @DustinPoirier I hope you will get the belt end of the year

— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) July 11, 2021

On Monday, McGregor tweeted and subsequently deleted, "Covid is good and father is evil?"

Abdulmanap died in July 2020 after experiencing complications stemming from his COVID-19 diagnosis.

Khabib took the death of his father hard. He unexpectedly retired immediately after his victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020 and said at the time "there's no way I'm going to be back without my father."

McGregor has made his career in part on insulting his opponents and their camps to generate more attention for his fights. Khabib isn't an exception.

Prior to his encounter with the unbeaten legend at UFC 229, he called Nurmagomedov's trainer, Ali Abdelaziz, a "snitch terrorist rat." McGregor also targeted Nurmagomedov's wife in a since-deleted tweet in 2019.

In an interview with ESPN's Brett Okamoto last October, Nurmagomedov said he would turn down $5 billion to be involved in a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite McGregor. After the Irish star's recent Twitter post, that stance probably remains unchanged.

Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement appears as if it is going to be permanent. 

Speaking to TMZ Sports, UFC President Dana White explained why he's "abandoned all hope" of convincing Nurmagomedov to fight again. 

"Believe me, I threw the kitchen sink at this kid, tried to get him to stick around and I think he’s done," White said.

The 32-year-old surprisingly announced his retirement from mixed martial arts after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October. 

Following the victory, the Russian said in a post-fight interview inside the octagon his decision to walk away was due in part to his father's death. 

"I talk with my mother three days. She don't want that I go fight without father," he said. "I promised her it's going to be my last fight, and if I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here."

"This is my last fight."@TeamKhabib pays his respects following a dominant performance at #UFC254 pic.twitter.com/5HiUvJXBJC

— UFC (@ufc) October 24, 2020

White told ESPN's Brett Okamoto in January he was going to speak with Nurmagomedov about doing one more fight. 

When nothing came of those talks, the UFC lightweight title was officially vacated on March 19. Charles Oliveira defeated Michael Chandler at UFC 262 on May 15 to win the 155-pound championship. 

Nurmagomedov retired from mixed martial arts with a perfect 29-0 record. His 13 consecutive wins in UFC is tied for the fourth-longest streak in the history of the promotion. 

After Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor at UFC 264, when McGregor broke his leg, former UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov tweeted that "Good always defeats evil."

McGregor responded in a since-deleted tweet that "Covid is good and father is evil?" That appeared to be in reference to Nurmagomedov's father Abdulmanap dying from COVID-19 complications last year.

On Wednesday, Nurmagomedov responded to McGregor's comments during an appearance on the Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson show (34:40 mark):

When he talk about this—you know, only evil can talk about your father, wife, kids, religion. If you're normal human, you're never gonna talk about this stuff. For me, I think he post this tweet, like, drunk too much or do something. And the next day, I think—and he always delete these tweets. And I think when he become all normal life and say, 'Oh, what I did.' And he delete. This is my opinion what he do all the time.

At that point, Tyson added the opinion that everything goes while promoting a fight. While Nurmagomedov agreed with that idea, McGregor and Nurmagomedov aren't currently promoting a matchup.

Nurmagomedov continued:

When someone is not with us—he is not even alive—this is show you what you have inside. This is show you how dirty you are. When you one of the best in the world and you come and you punch someone like 70, like old man, this is show your heart. This is show who you are inside, how dirty you are. When you have parents and you have kids, how you can show yourself like this? I don't understand why his close people don't tell him, 'Hey, what's going on?'

Former UFC fighter Henry Cejudo, who was serving as a co-host on the show, then asked Nurmagomedov what he thought might be missing from McGregor's life that he felt the need to comment on his deceased father:

When you become rich, when you become famous, some people they lose real people around him. They lose them. Because real people who love you, they gonna tell you true. But fake people? They always say, 'You good, you good, you good.' They never say to you nothing because they don't want to upset you because they know they gonna lose this comfortable zone. But real people, they don't care about this. They was with you before you become famous and rich. They don't care about your money. They don't care about your fame. They just love you. ... I think he lose a lot of people around him. It's just my opinion. I don't think he have people who was with him before when he become champion. Everybody needs someone who remind you, 'Hey you're doing this. This is bad. This is good. This is bad.'

Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor by submission in the fourth round of their lightweight championship fight at UFC 229 in October 2018. It was arguably the most high-profile fight in UFC history.

The lead-up to that bout was intense, from McGregor's use of offensive language to throwing a chair at a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and other fighters. And after Nurmagomedov's victory at UFC 229, chaos broke out in the Octagon. The victor jumped out of the cage and went after a member of McGregor's team, while three members of his own team went after McGregor in the Octagon.

Suffice to say, there is bad blood between the two men. But there are also limits, and in this instance, Nurmagomedov feels as though McGregor more than crossed the line.

Khabib Nurmagomedov reiterated Monday night that he is retired and has no plans to ever return to the UFC.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, Khabib was emphatic when asked about his future inside the Octagon:

Responding to a question about whether he will ever fight again, Khabib said "no" several times in a row.

Khabib was also asked if he felt Conor McGregor "crossed the line" with a tweet that seemed to reference his father, which was later deleted. Khabib responded, "I think so."

After Khabib tweeted, "Good always defeats evil. Very happy for Dustin Poirier," in the wake of Poirier's victory over McGregor at UFC 264, McGregor tweeted and then deleted, "Covid is good and father is evil?"

Khabib's father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, died in July 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.

McGregor and Khabib have a well-documented rivalry that dates back to 2018. Before UFC 223, McGregor threw a metal dolly through the window of a bus Khabib was riding on for media.

Then, at UFC 229, Khabib beat McGregor by fourth-round submission to retain the UFC lightweight title and remain undefeated. After the fight, a huge brawl broke out inside the Octagon.

McGregor continued to poke and prod Khabib on social media in the weeks, months and years after that fight.

Khabib went on to fight two more times, beating Poirier and Justin Gaethje. After beating Gaethje at UFC 254 in October by submission, Khabib announced his retirement.

Nurmagomedov cited keeping a promise to his mother and no longer wanting to fight after the passing of his father as reasons for stepping away.

Since Khabib is just 32 years old and owns a perfect record of 29-0, speculation has persisted regarding him possibly fighting again one day.

Khabib continues to make it clear that he has no plans to fight again, however, even with McGregor calling him out repeatedly.

As for McGregor, he has now lost back-to-back fights to Poirier, and he must rehab a leg injury before fighting again, as he suffered a broken tibia in his second loss to Poirier last month.

Daniel Cormier thinks Conor McGregor's taken the trash talk way too far.

The former UFC champion and current analyst responded to McGregor's since-deleted "Covid is good and father is evil?" tweet, presumably about Khabib Nurmagomedov's father Abdulmanap, who died from COVID-19 complications in July 2020.

Cormier blasted McGregor for the comments during his ESPN show with Ryan Clark (h/t Damon Martin of MMA Fighting):

I get shock value and I get trying to get people to talk but way too far. To the point that I immediately called Khabib last night and said, 'Are you OK?' Asking him if he's OK after having to see that, especially with no ability to do anything about it again. He spoke to my kids at my wrestling program the other day and said he was never happier than when he got to fight McGregor on the day. Because for so long, he wanted to get his hands on Conor and beat Conor up.

Well, he can't do that no more cause he's not a prizefighter anymore. So now he just has to kind of swallow that. Way too far. Honestly, when Conor does stuff like that, it's hard to understand how there's still this mass amount of people that support that type of behavior.

McGregor was apparently responding to the following tweet from Nurmagomedov, who posted it after McGregor broke his leg versus Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 and lost by TKO:

Good always defeats evil.
Very happy for @DustinPoirier I hope you will get the belt end of the year

— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) July 11, 2021

And Cormier couldn't believe McGregor would stoop to insulting Nurmagomedov's deceased father.

"When you're dealing with death and COVID and all these other things that we've dealt with over the last year and a half, that's all off limits," he said. "We talked about wives and families being off limits, but when you're talking about a man's everything—Khabib's dad was his everything—and you're talking about him being gone today due to something that has been so terrible for our entire world, you use that in a sense to get back?"

McGregor's trash talk has gone beyond the pale in the past. Before his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017, he at one point told his opponent to "Dance for me, boy" while Mayweather shadowboxed. 

And when there was backlash to those racist comments and others, McGregor doubled down, perpetuating stereotypes. 

"All of the media seem to be saying I'm against Black people. ... Do they not know I'm half Black?" he said at the time. "I'm half Black from the belly button down."

He also brought Poirier's wife, Jolie, into his web of trash talk before UFC 264 in July: 

pic.twitter.com/kdI3GStMeL

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 6, 2021

He also brought up Jolie—who flipped off McGregor after the fight—in his post-bout comments.

"Your wife is in my DMs," McGregor said. "Hey, baby, hit me back up on chat later on. We'll be at the after-party, the Wynn nightclub, baby. [Inaudible], you little hoe. F--k him."

There's trash talk, and then there are remarks like that. For Cormier, and surely many others in the sport, McGregor has lost the plot.

"Absolutely crossed the line. I think when stuff like that is being said, it's a cry for help," he said of the comments about Nurmagomedov's father. "Conor has all the money in the world, he has all the fame, but now when you start to dig at that level, it's like somebody needs to get to McGregor and help him to start to kind of re-shift his mind and his focus and get him back to a better place. It's unfortunate."

Welcome back to TGIFighting, where we talk to top fighters, preview the weekend's combat sports action and make crotchety observations about the MMA news of the day. Ready? Let's go!

     

B/R Exclusive: The Next Khabib? Islam Makhachev Has Sights on Lightweight Division 

Islam Makhachev isn't quite sure how many rounds he's sparred with Khabib Nurmadomedov, but he's got a rough estimate. 

"More than a thousand."

Simply put, Makhachev (19-1) is the latest monster to emerge from Russia's Dagestan region. The 29-year-old has long been favorably compared with teammate and mentor Nurmagomedov (29-0), who happens to be every normal person's pick for the best lightweight in MMA history.

With Nurmagomedov now retired, it's Makhachev's time to shine. This Saturday marks his coming-out party as he appears in his first UFC main event, where he'll take on heavy underdog Thiago Moises (15-4) in the culminating bout of UFC on ESPN 26.

"This is a big step in my career because it's a main event, five rounds," the soft-spoken Makhachev told me in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. "All the attention is gonna be on me, and I can show my skills. Moises beat some top guys. He has good striking, good jiu-jitsu. But I am going to show my skills."

If it bothers him to live in Nurmagomedov's shadow, he doesn't let on. It doesn't come as a surprise that they both have similar, grappling-oriented styles that involve sadistically breaking down an opponent's will to fight. Of his 19 wins, 11 have come by stoppage, with eight by submission.

Although Nurmagomedov's standup was a little more polished, Makhachev says it doesn't make much difference because, well, people can't seem to stop his ground game.

"It's normal, because all my life I'm training with him," he said. "We both like to pressure our opponents. We have the same style. ... My striking is good, but I have wrestling, I know. I have wrestling more than everybody. So I just choose the easy way, you know?"  

The similarities are further explained by the fact that both men trained under Nurmagomedov's father, Abdulmanap, who died last year because of complications related to COVID-19.  

"I think about him all the time," Makhachev said. "He always said I was going to be champion." 

It's not an abstraction or empty motivational sloganeering. Accordingly, Makhachev has a concrete blueprint. He's sharply aware of his place in the division and on the official UFC lightweight rankings, and he has an ambitious but realistic plan to get to the top of this crowded weight class—assuming he can take care of business.

"Now I am No. 9, but I think maybe after this fight I am gonna be like eight, seven," he said. "After that I think two more fights, and then in 2022 I fight for the title."

Makhachev is watching the top of the division closely, including last weekend's calamitous main event at UFC 264 between Conor McGregor (22-6) and Dustin Poirier (28-6, 1 NC), which ended with a doctor's stoppage TKO after McGregor broke his leg under decidely odd circumstances.

Nurmagomedov, who defeated McGregor in 2018 and Poirier in 2019, has been lobbing verbal grenades at McGregor ever since (more on that below). Makhachev doesn't join in exactly, but he doesn't object, either.

"Honestly, I don't like Conor too much," he continued. "Because he is a bad person, you know? It was very bad, what he said before the fight, about [Poirier's] family, about Poirier, about the fight."

If everything goes according to plan, and Makhachev proves equal to the hype, he may well get a shot at McGregor down the road. It all starts Saturday with the biggest fight of Makhachev's career.

     

Conor's "Behind the Music" Nadir Continues

If you're too young to remember Behind the Music, the VH1 docudrama's formula was pretty simple: band is really good, band gets famous, fame goes to their heads, they spin out of control, redemption story ensues.

Guess what segment we're on with the Conor McGregor episode.

After suffering perhaps the most ironic broken leg in the history of that particular injury, McGregor now faces at least six months on the shelf as UFC 264 opponent Dustin Poirier moves on with a TKO by doctor's stoppage and eyes a megawatt dance later this year or early next with lightweight champ Charles Oliveira (31-8, 1 NC).

Meanwhile, the MMA world is nowhere near finished piling on McGregor, be it for the loss or the incessant trash talk that sometimes gets a little too personal. And Team McGregor is not done firing back—far from it. Let's take a little walk back over the last week, shall we? It's a veritable cavalcade of haterade. 

- Tuesday: Former UFC bantamweight champ and current broadcaster Dominick Cruz wondered how McGregor can grow if he can't accept defeat. 

- Sunday, Monday and Tuesday: Nurmagomedov absolutely hammered the former double champ. He called McGregor "evil," and told ESPN's Brett Okamoto the Irishman is both a "bag of s--t" and "finished." He also said Poirier would beat him 100 times out of 100. This is what we in journalism circles refer to as cold-blooded. But after McGregor's sore loserdom, it's hard to argue he didn't put this target on his own back.

- Tuesday: WWE legend Kurt Angle added some levity to the proceedings, saying McGregor's gruesome leg break was nary a big deal.

- Tuesday: Speaking to W2W (h/t Fox Sports), McGregor coach John Kavanagh questioned broadcaster Joe Rogan's decision to interview McGregor in the cage, even as medical personnel were attempting to stabilize the leg.

- Wednesday: YouTuber Jake Paul entered the fray, calling McGregor a "piece of s--t" when speaking to TMZ and adding McGregor has "lost the sauce" in an interview with Real 92.3 LA's Big Boy's Neighborhood (h/t Hypebeast).

Dang.

If McGregor's career arc unfolds true to cliche, this is the part where he looks inward, realizes it's up to him and him alone, mends his fences and faults, recovers that lost spark and rises like a phoenix from the ashes to smite all his doubters. That's the happy version, anyway.

       

Tyron Woodley vs Jake Paul Fight Date Announced 

Are you a diehard MMA fan looking for hardcore MMA news? This is your section. Just kidding, this is where we talk about YouTube celebrities.

If you're looking for a veneer of seriousness, consider the side bet these two created, whereby the loser gets "I Love [Winner's Name]" tattooed on their body. Presumably, they meant the permanent kind. No word on font.

I can't see Woodley doing this, even if he loses. Someone review the contract carefully so he can't wriggle out through a loophole. 

     

Congrats to Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy (15-4) has scrapped and clawed her way to the top of the women's flyweight division. Her style isn't always pretty, but "Lucky" Lauren is tough as nails and knows how to grind out wins. 

She's on a five-fight win streak, which paid off this week when the UFC announced that the 37-year-old fan favorite will tangle with seemingly unbeatable champion Valentina Shevchenko (21-3), who is rapidly running out of challengers in the division. 

Will Murphy give her a solid knock? In all candor, it seems unlikely given the well-rounded game and pure firepower Valentina brings to the table. But just by virtue of getting here after 11 fights and seven years in the UFC, Murphy has already won. 

      

Stone Cold Lead Pipe Lock of the Week

Record to date: 14-4

Makhachev is a massive -850 favorite to handle Moises, per DraftKings. That's too big to be fun, even for this conservative betting space. Let's instead look elsewhere on the main card, where fast-rising Mateusz Gamrot (18-1, 1 NC) is a -210 favorite to defeat Jeremy Stephens (28-18, 1 NC). Stephens is the bigger name, but he's winless in his last five contests.

Gamrot is 1-1 but made good on his potential in his last bout, where he knocked out a solid opponent in Scott Holtzman (14-5) in the second round. Gamrot doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. That changes after Saturday. Lock it in.

The allure of a fight with Charles Oliveira isn't enough to lure Khabib Nurmagomedov out of his retirement from UFC.

Khabib addressed his future in an interview with ESPN's Brett Okamoto.

Okamoto threw out the idea of one day taking on Oliveira, who claimed the lightweight championship after defeating Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in May, if Oliveira ran through the rest of the 155-pound division.

"I'm gonna say at that time it was Khabib's time. Now it's Charles' time," Nurmagomedov said beginning at the 21:24 mark. "I'm not going to just jump to the media and say, 'Oh, I'm gonna come back and fight with this guy.' This is not interesting for me."

The 32-year-old added that his first impulse upon seeing Oliveira cement himself as the undisputed lightweight star would be to congratulate him.

Nurmagomedov walked away from MMA following his victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 last October. He had compiled a 29-0 record as a professional and firmly asserted himself as one of the greatest lightweights ever.

Heading into UFC 254, Nurmagomedov had said on ESPN's First Take he was open to an encounter with the legendary Georges St-Pierre and that it was the "only fight in UFC, after Gaethje, that makes me very excited." 

In general, Khabib sounded like a fighter who desired a new challenge, which wasn't foreseeable after he had vanquished all foes. 

Speaking with Sport24 in January (via Jesse Holland of MMA Mania), Khabib explained how he was content with where he ended his career.

"I have achieved almost everything in this sport and there isn’t someone I would like to fight now," he said. "A lot of people don’t want to understand my side. I don’t see that yet. I train for myself. If we talk about all my business projects that are planned, fights are not in these plans."

Oliveira would represent something fresh since the two haven't crossed paths before. But Nurmagomedov threw cold water on the idea.

Khabib Nurmagomedov didn't mince words when assessing what would happen if Conor McGregor fought Dustin Poirier again following the latter's victory at Saturday's UFC 264. 

"What is gonna happen?" he said during a discussion with Brett Okamoto of ESPN. "I don't think something's gonna happen. The judges gave Dustin Poirier a 10-8. He mauled [McGregor] in [the first] round. If they fight 100 times, Dustin is gonna beat him 100 times."

https://twitter.com/bokamotoESPN/status/1414786937353773071

Khabib doesn't believe the #UFC264 main event would have gone any differently in Round 2.

(via @bokamotoESPN) pic.twitter.com/fhCwWuN5k6

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 13, 2021

While Saturday's fight ended prematurely when McGregor suffered an injury, it was clear Poirier was the better fighter in the only round.

He controlled the early stages of the fight, as Nurmagomedov alluded to, and likely would have notched his second successive win over McGregor even without the injury. While McGregor defeated Poirier in 2014, the American has now secured back-to-back wins in the rivalry.

Khabib was among those who weighed in, congratulating Poirier for the victory and saying "Good always defeats evil" in a tweet:

Good always defeats evil.
Very happy for @DustinPoirier I hope you will get the belt end of the year

— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) July 11, 2021

"It's not over," McGregor said after the fight. "If we have to take this outside, we'll do it."

Despite those comments, it was clear Poirier is the bigger title threat at this point of their respective careers. Nurmagomedov said McGregor is "finished" as a top-notch competitor following the loss and injury.

 "Without broken legs, yes, [he could be the same]," Nurmagomedov said. "But with broken legs, he's never going to kick the same. With him, no, I don't believe [he'll return to the top]. Conor have good age [32], but what happened with his mind, legs—this guy is finished, but he's good for promotion."

Nurmagomedov is no stranger to what each fighter brings to the table.

He beat McGregor by fourth-round submission at UFC 229 in 2018 after a dramatic lead-up to the highly anticipated fight and then defeated Poirier by third-round submission at UFC 242 in 2019.

He believes Poirier would have no trouble in any rematch after Saturday's result.

Retired UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov took delight in Dustin Poirier's win over Conor McGregor at UFC 264 on Saturday night.

Khabib took to Twitter to congratulate Poirier and added the remark, "Good always defeats evil."

Good always defeats evil.
Very happy for @DustinPoirier I hope you will get the belt end of the year

— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) July 11, 2021

Nurmagomedov, who retired last year with a perfect record of 29-0, faced both McGregor and Poirier during his career. He beat McGregor by fourth-round submission at UFC 229 in 2018 and Poirier by third-round submission at UFC 242 in 2019.

Khabib had far more issues with McGregor leading up to their fight, though, including McGregor throwing a metal dolly through the window of a bus Nurmagomedov was on prior to UFC 223.

McGregor seemingly wasn't humbled by losing three of six fights prior to UFC 264, as he talked plenty of trash at the pre-fight press conference and weigh-in.

Despite the Irishman's confidence that he would prevail, Poirier beat him for the second time in a row, as the doctor stopped the fight after one round after McGregor broke his leg.

Poirier now holds wins over McGregor at UFC 257 and 264, avenging his loss against him at UFC 178 back in 2014.

With the win, Poirier is among the hottest fighters in the lightweight division, and UFC President Dana White said after the fight that Poirier is now in line for a title shot against Charles Oliveira.

Poirier's only lightweight title opportunity to date was a loss against Khabib at UFC 242, but Nurmagomedov is now backing his former opponent in hopes that The Diamond can become an official champion for the first time in the UFC.