The rivalry between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor has gone to an even darker place, and Kelvin Gastelum believes its time to de-escalate the feud before someone gets seriously hurt.
UFC 236 is right around the corner – a card, let’s remember, which will feature two, title fights – but McGregor and Nurmagomedov are dominating headlines. As you likely know, the fighters have been in the news due to an exchange of vicious tweets, which was sparked by McGregor referencing Nurmagomedov’s wife and referring to a picture of her in a veil as a “towel”. Things have gotten so bad, that Dana White has said the UFC is intervening (and this is a company that hasn’t stepped in to regulate fighter comments in some time).
Well, Gastelum is scheduled to fight Israel Adesanya for the interim middleweight title on April 13th. Not surprisingly, the fighter was asked to weigh-in on what’s transpired between McGregor and Nurmagomedov, and he said this (quotes via MMA Junkie):
“I think there are some lines that shouldn’t be crossed,” Gastelum said. “And this rivalry that’s going on right now is escalating to a point where it shouldn’t have to, you know what I mean?”
“I feel like if it keeps escalating the way it is, somebody is going to end up getting hurt or shot, or something. I truly believe that.”
“You shouldn’t mess with people’s wives, you shouldn’t mess with people’s lives or their religion, absolutely.”
Gastelum’s certainly on point here. Not only is it time to dial it back because it’s the right thing to do and for the sake of the sport, but someone could get seriously, seriously hurt or even killed. Not necessarily the fighters themselves or a member of their camp, but when things get this nasty, when cultural and religious topics begin to enter the mix, you risk violence breaking out between the fighter’s fanbases.
More recently, McGregor did say he’s moving forward and that he respects his fans of all faiths and backgrounds. So, hopefully that’s a step in the right direction.
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