Ali Abdelaziz Reveals How Khabib Reacted To UFC 223 Bus Attack

Manager Ali Abdelaziz relayed his version of how Khabib Nurmagomedov reacted to Conor McGregor’s infamous bus attack last year.

Nurmagomedov and a number of other fighters seated on a bus were ambushed by McGregor and his crew during UFC 223 media day. It resulted in two canceled fights, McGregor getting arrested, and a lot of coverage from the mainstream media.

In the build-up to their eventual fight at UFC 229, the Irishman claimed Nurmagomedov was scared to get out of the bus and face him. However, that wasn’t the case according to Abdelaziz, who was also on the bus:

“The first thing I wanted to do, I want to jump out the bus. And Khabib was sitting, smiling,” Abdelaziz said on a recent episode of Mike Tyson’s podcast (via MMA Junkie).

“I was so angry, because I felt like we were getting ambushed by like 20, 30 guys. I want to jump out the bus, but Ilir Latifi grabbed me. He’s a light heavyweight. I really wanted to get out the bus, because I don’t like to be in a box while people trying to kill you. You understand? And Khabib said, ‘Hey, relax.

“If gangsters come, they don’t bring video cameras.’ Because when Conor come, he brought all his crony little dudes, but they have video cameras. (Khabib) said, ‘Real gangsters don’t bring video cameras.’ He was sitting. He didn’t get up. Khabib was smiling. When all this stuff was going on, he didn’t get up.”

Nurmagomedov would go on to defeat McGregor via fourth-round submission to retain his lightweight title in October. Despite McGregor being 2-2 in his last four fights, he is still expected to get a title rematch at some point in the future.

But first, Nurmagomedov will face Dustin Poirier in a lightweight title unification fight expected to take place at UFC 242 on September 7.