Khabib Nurmagomedov Defends UFC 229 Post-Fight Actions
Khabib Nurmagomedov defends his actions in the UFC 229 post-fight brawl that he started after his big title defense against Conor McGregor. As seen in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 229 pay-per-view event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nurmagomedov beat McGregor by fourth-round neck crank.
Following the fight, the UFC champion spoke with the media members who were in attendance where his first comments were about the fact that he wanted to issue an apology to several people.
Khabib Nurmagomedov Defends
The problem is that he decided to defer the reason for his actions instead of taking the blame for this incident.
“First of all I want to say sorry to (Nevada State) Athletic Commission, Nevada, sorry to Vegas,” Nurmagomedov said in response to a question from MMAjunkie. “I know this is not my best side. This is not my best side. I am human being.”
Bus Attack
That is all fine and good but Khabib then went in a different way as he questioned why the brawl caused people to overreact, which is quite a mindset to have. He brought up the bus attack back in April. No doubt this was a huge part of the story of the UFC 229 pay-per-view main event. During fight week of the UFC 223 pay-per-view event, McGregor and several members of his entourage went from Ireland to Brooklyn, New York to get revenge on Nurmagomedov.
It started once the UFC lightweight champion got into an argument with McGregor’s training partner, Artem Lobov, earlier that week. This led to McGregor attacking the fighter bus that had Nurmagomedov on and he was arrested.
“I no understand how people can talk about I jump on cage,” Nurmagomedov said. “He talk about my religion, he talk about my country, he talk about my father. He come to Brooklyn, and he broke bus. He almost kill a couple people, worry about this (expletive).”
Why All The Talk?
Khabib still doesn’t understand why people were so upset by him jumping the cage because, in his eyes, everyone knows who he is.
“Why people talk about I jump on cage? Why people still talk about this? I no understand. My California seven years. Everybody know who I am. All my friends. Everybody who know me, they know who I am.”
Just Talking
Khabib brought up all the personal trash talk that led up to the event, which he took exception of it.
“Media change a little bit (of) MMA,” Nurmagomedov said. “It’s a respect sport; this is not trash-talking sport. This is respectful. I told you guys, ‘I want to change this game.’ I don’t want people to talk (expletive) about opponent, talk (expletive) about father, like religion. You cannot talk about religion, you cannot think about nation. For me, this is very important.”
Thanks For Waiting
Khabib would thank the media for waiting on him to speak to them and noted that his father will smash him for his actions outside of the Octagon.
“Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Thank you for waiting for me. I know when I go home my father going to smash me because I know he’s going to smash me. Nevada, sorry. Vegas, sorry.”
