Khabib Nurmagomedov Calls Conor McGregor’s Latest Verbal Jabs “Fake”

As it’s become clear that Khabib Nurmagomedov almost certainly won’t fight at UFC 249, Conor McGregor took the opportunity to trash the lightweight champ. But, according to Nurmagomedov, McGregor’s latest verbal attack doesn’t add up, when you consider recent statements he’s made about the coronavirus.

Nurmagomedov says McGregor’s attacks are “fake”

Recently Nurmagomedov appeared in an Instagram Live session, and he seemed to be announcing that he won’t be fighting Ferguson on April 18th. The reason being he’s in Russia right now, and travel in-and-out of the nation has been banned as a result of the pandemic.

Well, after Nurmagomedov made those comments, McGregor accused the champion of “chickening out” of UFC 249. In a follow-up interview with ESPN, Nurmagomedov had this to say about McGregor’s verbal jabs (quotes via MMA Fighting).

“I no understand,” Khabib said. “This guy [Conor] talks about he’s in good shape but when I smash him last time he’s like, ‘My foot is blame’ or something like this. ‘It was not my good shape.’ How he right now is good shape? How we can talk about shape when I smash his face and he tap? He say ‘It was my bad shape, I was without shape, blah, blah, blah’ Now we talk about ‘I am good shape, I can come in.’

“Okay, a couple days ago he send message, ‘Hey people, take care of family, please, be safe, stay home, government ask us to stay home.’ Now he talks ‘I’m good shape, blah, blah, blah, someone has to fight, someone has to fly.’ This is fake. For me, it’s fake. I was always real. Maybe someone like, maybe someone don’t like, this is not my job. But I was always real, but this guy’s fake. What are you talking about, talking about his shape? He goes to some island and sits home all day, scared about this coronavirus but he don’t talk about this. He judges someone, ‘He has to fly here, he has to go there, he has to fight.’

“What happened, October 6th, 2018?” Khabib asked. “When you have six month training camp before the fight, you do everything that you can and you come inside the cage, you talk a lot of bad things before the fight, six months you train very hard, and you come inside the cage and tap like chicken. What are you talking about?”

“Fake” comments?

The fact McGregor is trashing Nurmagomedov isn’t surprising. But, it was kind of surprising to McGregor taking a dig at the champ over the fact he’s stranded in Russia. Nurmagomedov has said he left the U.S. because the UFC told him UFC 249 would likely take place overseas. But, even if that wasn’t the case, or if there was some sort of breakdown in communication, you shouldn’t blame Nurmagomedov for wanting to be with his family in Dagestan right now. Recently McGregor has made multiple comments about the need for people to self-isolate, in the face of the pandemic, from his native Ireland.

So, does McGregor really, truly believe Khabib ran from UFC 249 and a bout with Ferguson?