Chael Sonnen Fires Back at Darren Till Over Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Ireland Uproar

Khabib Nurmagomedov ruffled some feathers earlier this week when he disparaged Irish MMA.

During an interview with the PFL, Nurmagomedov slammed the lack of world-class fighters coming out of Ireland, specifically mentioning Conor McGregor and Paul Hughes — who will challenge Khabib’s cousin Usman Nurmagomdeov for the Bellator lightweight title on January 25 — as the only two worth mentioning.

While some were quick to point out the obvious omission of surging welterweight contender Ian Machado Garry, former UFC fighter Darren Till snapped back at the Hall of Famer for trying to compare Ireland’s output of MMA talent to Russia, a significantly larger country than The Emerald Aisle.

“I’ve always respected Khabib and his team a lot they are fantastic fighters. But for him to sit there and say fighters from Ireland are low level in comparison of sizes of countries and production. Ireland is actually way ahead Ireland is so fucking small and Russia is so fucking big. Ireland has produced amazing fighters over the years. I would said just over size and production of the country Ireland wins every time and this is not me being biased because I am neither friends with khabibs side or irelands side I’m just stating my opinion.”

Chael Sonnen Corrects Till while commenting on Khabib’s criticism of Ireland

Chiming in, former three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen noted that Nurmagomedov didn’t compare Ireland to Russia, but to Dagestan which is a republic in the Russian Federation.

“That’s not what he said,” Sonnen replied. “RUSSIA was never mentioned. He was clear to say Dagastan. Now i’ll step back, please continue the FITE….”

Comparatively, Dagestan has a population of just over three million while Ireland has 5.2 million occupants.

Make of that what you will.