Former UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has revealed why he chose to attack Conor McGregor’s corner in the aftermath of the UFC 229 headliner.
In the highest-selling UFC pay-per-view of all time, Khabib dominated his arch-rival in the main event, before sparking an unforgettable post-fight brawl. After forcing the division’s former champion to tap just over three minutes into the penultimate round, “The Eagle” set his sights on the Irishman’s corner.
Despite securing a memorable fourth-round submission victory, which came by way of a brutal-looking neck crank, Khabib has suggested he was left unsatisfied at the culmination of his first title defense.
During an appearance on the Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson podcast, the 32-year-old revealed his disappointment in McGregor’s performance and attitude in the Octagon when the pair finally went to war, especially considering the trash talk from the former two-division champion.
“I was preparing so hard. When time come and inside the cage when he say this to me… I was talk with him, like crazy, and he give back to me, like ‘Hey, it’s only business.’ It sounds like when my father go crazy with me, I try to make him stop, you know? I try to find some excuse… Sounds like same thing. And I was, ‘What? I was preparing for this thing?’ I was preparing for war, and when I come here, I don’t fight opponent. Like, this is make me empty.” (h/t Bloody Elbow)
Given how many fans he had in attendance, Khabib went on to express his confusion at McGregor’s decision to tap out.
“When I catch his neck and I choke him, like, he tapped. And I think, ‘Hey, you bring, like, thousands people from Ireland here on different part of world. And you tap in front of them? And you talk about warrior or something like this? How you can tap? Go sleep! And he tap.”
“The Eagle” said that, because of the unsatisfactory end to the headlining clash, he felt he needed something more. That’s when he decided to jump the cage and attack McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis.
“I was like, ‘OK, I need something. It’s not enough. I need something.’ And I see, like, some his corners talk with me, and I think, ‘Oh, I have to bite his heart.’ And I jump to, like, catch something,” he explained. “At the time, nobody wanna talk with me. I don’t understand. Everybody wanna talk with me in press conference. In Twitter, you know? I just try to bite his heart. That time, I really want to bite his heart.”
With McGregor’s recent tweets directed at Khabib and his late father Abdulmanap, it seems his defeat to the Russian remains on his mind. Given Khabib’s measured response, the retired lightweight is clearly now satisfied with leaving his feud with MMA’s biggest star in the past.
Having defeated McGregor at UFC 229, Khabib went on to defend his 155-pound gold a further two times against Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. After defeating the former at UFC 254 last October, the Dagestani legend announced his retirement from the sport of MMA.
Since putting a stop to his in-Octagon career, Khabib has taken on an increased coaching role alongside AKA head coach Javier Mendez. With his team’s victories at Bellator 263 last weekend, the Russian’s record this year in the corner now sits at 8-0.
Was Khabib Nurmagomedov’s victory over Conor McGregor his best title defense?
