Khabib Nurmagomedov Doesn’t Like Hurting Opponents, But Took Pleasure In Beating Conor McGregor

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov’s goal is to never hurt his opponent — however, he did enjoy putting a beating on one particular foe.

Nurmagomedov was recently speaking to schoolchildren in Russia and was asked which victory he was most proud of. Despite getting pleasure from his early wins in his mixed martial arts career, it’s not been the same in recent times for the Dagestan native:

“At the beginning, when you’re just starting out and winning fights, it brings you some sort of pleasure. You enjoy it,” Khabib said (via RT). “Recently I haven’t had that. In the last couple of years I’ve gone out there and won and it doesn’t bring me any real joy to be honest.

“Well, with the exception of one fight, let’s say. In that fight I beat that guy [Conor McGregor] with pleasure, I’ll tell you.”

“The Eagle” received a round of applause following that answer and it’s easy to see why he enjoyed beating McGregor. The Irishman said plenty of ill-advised things about Nurmagomedov, his family as well as his culture in the buildup to their UFC 229 fight last year.

But outside of McGregor, Nurmagomedov never wants to hurt his opponents and even goes easy on them at times:

“I had fights in my career where I understood that I could hurt my opponent more, but I’d talk to him, tell him to give up so that I don’t beat him too hard,” he added. “For example, if I had a painful hold where I could break something, I wouldn’t tighten it all the way, it’d just fix it so that the opponent would tap out.

“Because I have no aim to hurt anyone in this sport. Yes, we compete in a very brutal combat sport, but it’s never my goal to inflict a lot of pain on my opponent. If I understand that I’m winning, I don’t aim to hurt someone bad. Well, except for one fight.”

What do you make of Nurmagomedov’s comments?