Khabib Nurmagomedov had the time of his life when fighting Conor McGregor.
Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) mauled McGregor en route to a fourth-round submission at UFC 229 to retain his lightweight title. A brawl ensued after where Nurmagomedov jumped McGregor’s corner and served a suspension for it.
If you hear Nurmagomedov look back at the McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) fight, you’d never assume there was so much anger in what proved to be the highest-selling fight in company history. That anger turned out to be one of “The Eagle’s” favorite moments throughout his career.
“One thing is really, really beautiful in this world: When you don’t like somebody, you go inside the cage, you smash him, and they give you money,” Nurmagomedov said of McGregor in a media event in Chicago (h/t S Khalil). “Outside of the cage, if you do this, you go to jail. I was waiting for this moment for so long. I could not only fight, but also talk to him. I used that moment to enjoy – the way like you go to Maldives. It was my vacation.”
Despite being at the height of his dominance, Nurmagomedov would go on to defend his title two more times against Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje before calling it a career. He was not going to break his promise to his mother of fighting without his late father in his corner.
“It was not only mother, it was all situation what happened, everything coming together,” Nurmagomedov said. “I saw a lot of rumors why I retired, because of that, because of this. I think if my father still alive, he would make me fight a little bit longer, because I just turned 32 when I finished. But he passed away and it was a very honest and good conversation with my mom. It’s hard to explain. Everything happened so fast.
“Everything was happening so fast, even when father passed away, I don’t even have time to think what I have to do because they make interim title. Justin Gaethje beat Tony Ferguson, father passed away, and UFC told me, ‘We’re going to give you one month off. After one month, come back to us with what you’re going to do.’ It was a very difficult situation. From one side, it was all world waiting for this fight. On the other side, I had this deal, what happened with me and father and mother on the other side – and I chose what mother wished.”
