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What's the story?
Reigning UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, has recently reflected on his UFC 229 post-fight brawl actions on October 6th, 2018, against 'The Notorious,' Conor McGregor.
The unbeaten Dagestani is presently serving a nine-month suspension alongside a $500,000 fine after being withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his questionable behavior on the eventful night of UFC 229.
In case you didn't know..
On October 6th, 2018, after insurmountable amounts of build-up for a mega-fight against Conor McGregor for the UFC's lightweight gold had settled, the 155-pound champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, submitted the Irish superstar to a vicious neck-crank in round number four of their championship clash at UFC 229.
Moments after the win, Nurmagomedov was seen jumping over the Octagon with an intention to enter a physical altercation with Conor McGregor's Jiu-Jitsu coach, Dillon Danis.
Hell quickly broke loose at Las Vegas before security personnel present at the venue managed to neutralize the situation.
Following the incident, the Nevada State Athletic Commission took hold of the case by indefinitely suspending both fighters involved in the mayhem.
Currently, Khabib is serving a nine-month suspension along with a hefty fine of $500,000, while McGregor is expected to stay on hiatus until April 6th, 2019.
The heart of the matter
In a recent interview with Russian channel Match TV, UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was seen being surprisingly candid about his role in the UFC 229 mishap. 'The Eagle' showed no signs of visible remorse whatsoever, and worded the following:
"I’ve had many situations in my life that I regret, but you can’t turn back time,” Nurmagomedov said. But this is not on the list of things I regret. If the situation happened again 100 times, I would do the same thing 100 times. I don’t have a gram of regret about my actions. Some people liked it, some people didn’t. It makes no difference. I did what I wanted to do.”
Khabib went on to provide further justification on the melee by speaking in the context of him being an avid practitioner of the Sambo discipline of martial arts. He said:
"I’m a Sambo fighter. It’s unarmed self-defense. I didn’t attack first, they attacked me. There were provocations. From the organization [UFC] I felt support for his side, there were a lot of moments when I turned a blind eye. I said at the press conferences that on October 6 I would dot all the I’s. Each person has his own opinion, I don’t want to argue with anyone. To each their own.”
What's next?
The UFC is currently in a fix with its biggest pay-per-view stars serving respective punishments for the bizarre UFC 229 post-fight brawl.
According to the president of the UFC, Dana White, the pair are expected to engage once again in a rematch, by the end of the year.
When do you foresee a highly-anticipated rematch between arguably the most talked about rivals in UFC history? Leave your thoughts, opinions, and predictions in the comments section below!
