At UFC 230, lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov roughed up superstar Conor McGregor in the cage, then jumped out of the cage and into the audience to fight McGregor’s teammates.
It was… pretty ugly.
It’s expected that ol’ Khabib is going to face some form of punishment at the hands of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. In fact, the Commission held onto Nurmagomedov’s paycheck in anticipation of the fines he’ll be hit with.
The UFC, on the other hand, wasted no time dropping the hammer on Khabib’s teammates who participated in the extracurricular fracas. In particular, they pulled UFC Fight Night 138 headliner Zubaira Tukhugov from his fight, and replaced him with Michael Johnson.
This left Khabib pretty heated, and he threatened to quit the UFC.
But UFC boss Dana White says Khabib has calmed down, and everything is good now. As per TMZ Sports:
Dana White tells TMZ Sports … he and Khabib Nurmagomedov have worked out their issues and “The Eagle” will not be leaving the UFC.
“We’re good with Khabib,” Dana said … “He’s staying. This will all work out.”
…
“We worked it out. We’re gonna get everything worked out. Obviously, he was a little upset and a little fired up.”
He continued, “Listen, guys get very emotional man and that was a very emotional fight for him. At the end of the day, Khabib is a great guy and we’ve always had a great relationship with him.”
The other question … does this mean Khabib AND Zubaira will remain on the UFC roster?
“Well, [Khabib’s] staying in the UFC,” Dana said … telling us he’s not 100% sure about Zubaira’s future.
He did assure us that Khabib is happy and “this will all work out.”
Of course everything is good now. The UFC’s pay-per-view stars are dwindling big time, so they need Khabib.
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