Khabib Nurmagomedov claims Conor McGregor rivalry fueled by UFC: ‘It was all Dana’s doing’

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor — Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dana White, and Conor McGregor | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Khabib Nurmagomedov knows all about Dana White pulling the strings.

Well before Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor stepped into the cage at UFC 229, the seeds were planted for an all-time great rivalry and much of that was due to McGregor’s unhinged antics. Ahead of Nurmagomedov’s lightweight title fight with Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 in April 2018, McGregor invaded the backstage area of Barclays Center in Brooklyn and threw a dolly threw the window of a bus transporting Nurmagomedov.

The incident made international headlines and built anticipation for their potential fight to a fever pitch. Nurmagomedov recently spoke on the Hustle Show (Russian interview accompanied by English subtitles) about the feud, saying White was happy to encourage it:

Host (Adam Zubairev): I heard [UFC executive] Hunter [Campbell] was the one who built up the hype for your fight with Conor.

Nurmagomedov: Hunter might not like hearing this, but it was Dana White who built that fight up.

Zubairev: What I mean is, it was all set up like that. That whole bus incident, for example, they basically opened the door for him. They gave him access everywhere.

Nurmagomedov: It was all Dana’s doing.

Zubairev: He did it well, though. Looking back now, you get it.

Nurmagomedov: I even told him he did a good job. ‘Good job, Dana.’ Not just him. Hunter alone wouldn’t have been enough. They were all involved.

In addition to the Barclays Center incident, Nurmagomedov and McGregor had numerous public opportunities to verbally attack each other, and the trash talk was often deeply personal.

However, they didn’t have a chance to go head-to-head at the final press conference for UFC 229 because Nurmagomedov decided not to wait around for the perpetually tardy McGregor.

“I still had weight to cut,” Nurmagomedov said. “Everything was scheduled to the minute. At 2:30 p.m. you’re supposed to arrive at the arena. You go backstage and wait, everyone is supposed to be there by 2:30. At 3 p.m., the press conference starts. According to the schedule and the contract, it runs from 3 p.m. until 4 p.m., I think, no delays allowed. I showed up and asked if he had arrived yet. They said, ‘No.’ And someone said, ‘He hasn’t even left yet.’ He’s probably going to be late. And I’m like, ‘Aha.’

“So I’m sitting there in the locker room,” Nurmagomedov continued. “I didn’t say anything to anyone and I think to myself when there’s five minutes left, I’ll say I’m not doing it. Five minutes left. I said, ‘I’ll sit for 10 to 15 minutes. If he doesn’t show up, I’m out.’ I said, ‘Get the cars ready.’ There were a lot of fans outside. They started saying this and that and I told the producer, ‘I’m staying until 3:15, then I’m leaving. I won’t be there. You won’t be able to hold me.’ Then he went to Dana and told him. Dana came up to me, I said, ‘I’m not staying. I’ll stay for 15 minutes. I’m leaving.’ ‘Alright,’ he said, ‘OK, kid.’ Yeah, that’s Dana’s style. So I sat there, and he didn’t show up. I left. Turns out he arrived like half an hour later. So I left. Why would I stay for that? I still had to cut weight on Thursday, why sit and listen to him?”

Nurmagomedov went on to successfully defend his lightweight title, defeating McGregor by fourth-round submission in a bout Nurmagomedov largely dominated with his wrestling. McGregor has called for a rematch in the years following, but Nurmagomedov instead went on to record two more championship bout wins over Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje before announcing his retirement immediately after the Gaethje fight in 2020. He finished with a professional record of 29-0.

The UFC has also moved on past the Nurmagomedov-McGregor feud, though there has recently been growing fan discontent about the lack of compelling characters and storylines despite business continuing to boom for the promotion.

Nurmagomedov believes there are still great rivalries, including his close friend and teammate Islam Makhachev possibly facing Ilia Topuria in the future, but acknowledges that nothing has come close to the excitement surrounding his UFC 229 fight with McGregor.

“The interest, the clash of styles, two champion fighters, sure that can happen,” Nurmagomedov said. “But not a rivalry like ours. And Islam too… Islam is a really good guy. Not like me. Islam is a good guy. And Topuria—but all this hype, that’s coming from him. I just don’t see it. I don’t know. … Of course, UFC will push it. One hundred percent. And they’ll always do that, it’s a promotion after all, they promote. And the fighters, undoubtedly they’re two of the best fighters right now, definitely among the top 5, statistically and in my opinion. But I don’t see that level of anticipation that breaks beyond the sport itself. In terms of sport, yes, it’s a huge matchup. The whole thing with Conor was like … It all happened very naturally. That’s what made the fight blow up. Sometimes it’s carefully constructed and it works. And sometimes it just happens on its own.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov claims Conor McGregor rivalry fueled by UFC: ‘It was all Dana’s doing’

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