Khabib Nurmagomedov believes Conor McGregor can come back from personal downfall: ‘He can change with him so many lives’

Tyler Durden 2025.08.03 3 min read

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

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor have never seen eye to eye, but that doesn’t mean the retired UFC star has given up on his rival.

The past few years have seen McGregor featured in headlines for all the wrong reasons, including recently being found liable for sexual assault in a civil suit stemming from a 2018 incident in Dublin (a verdict McGregor failed to appeal). Even in his prime, McGregor earned a reputation as a “bad boy” for his outside-of-the-cage antics, and his feud with Nurmagomedov included a violent attack on a bus transporting the former UFC lightweight champion in April 2018 in which McGregor threw a moving dolly threw a window.

On Saturday, Nurmagomedov spoke at a Muslim religion gathering at Tilles Center in New York (streamed live by influencer Sneako on Parti), and when he was asked about McGregor, he suggested the Irishman seek salvation.

“I don’t want to mention his name,” Nurmagomedov said. “This is punishment. This is punishment and [McGregor] keeps doing this, keeps doing this, keeps doing this. Everything that happened with these old people, woman this, alcohol this, drugs, everything. This is punishment. … But the most beautiful part of this, Allah always gives for us—it doesn’t matter anybody, everybody—[a] chance to come back. Always, in this world, a chance to come back.”

McGregor’s rap sheet also includes an assault charge from 2019, when he punched an elderly man in a Dublin pub, and he is currently the defendant in another civil suit for an alleged sexual assault that took place in Miami in 2023. He was also involved in an embarrassing social media incident in July when rapper Azealia Banks leaked alleged nude photos of McGregor.

Nurmagomedov, who settled his beef with McGregor with a fourth-round submission victory in their lightweight title fight at UFC 229, maintains that though McGregor’s reputation has taken a severe hit since he last fought in July 2021, he has a responsibility to clean up his act for his legion of fans and followers.

“This is the most beautiful thing,” Nurmagomedov said. “It doesn’t matter how you bad, Allah is going to give you a chance to always come back. I think he has a chance and he has to change the way how he’s living. Why am I talking about this? … If he’s going to change, he can change with him so many lives, too. And that’s why I wish him to change himself.”

Watch the clip below, courtesy of Championship Rounds.

Khabib speaks about Conor McGregor:

“Allah always give us chance to come back… doesn’t matter how you bad…

I think he have chance, and he have to change the way how he’s living.

If he gonna change, he can change with him so many other lives too. That’s why I wish him to… pic.twitter.com/fN4oGNk0Qn

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 3, 2025