Khabib Nurmagomedov reignited his feud with Conor McGregor this week when he stormed into Ireland and his crop of MMA fighters.
The pair shared one of the bitterest rivalries in the history of any sport, but had remained relatively separated from each other in recent years. But as promotion for Usman Nurmagomedov's Bellator lightweight title defense against Paul Hughes begins to heat up, things have heated up.
Khabib claimed that, apart from Hughes and McGregor, Irish MMA exports were limited, while noting that Dagestan has the superior crop of fighters. This has irked the Irish MMA community, but now the former two-weight world champion appears to be finding the humor in it.
Khabib Nurmagomedov rips Irish MMA in shocked tirade
In a video promoting this month's Champions Series event in Dubai, Khabib Nurmagomedov gave his thoughts on the alleged feud between Ireland and Dagestan. The event is billed as Dagestan vs Ireland 2, with a number of undercard fights leading up to Hughes vs Nurmagomedov.
Khabib believes there isn't much of a feud given the far greater number of champions emerging from Dagestan's even smaller population than Ireland, which has actually only produced a small number at the highest level.
“Brother, Ireland has no fighters, brother,” Nurmagomedov said in an interview with the PFL's social channel. “Let's be honest. How many fighters do you know from Ireland? Paul Hughes and Conor [McGregor]. And who else? There are no fighters, brother.
'Just come to Dagestan, you can understand. You know, so many organizations don't even sign Dagestan fighters because they're afraid that anyone can become a champion. Let's face it: Dagestan level of MMA here (raises arm high). But the Irish level is not even half of Dagestan's level.”
Conor McGregor hit back at Khabib Nurmagomedov with bizarre video
Following Nurmagomedov's comments, McGregor went on a bizarre social media tirade that appeared to have little to do with the comments. However, he later shared a video that showed the key differences between his time in the sport and the current era of Dagestani fighters ruling MMA.
McGregor posted a minute-and-a-half video titled “UFC during the McGregor era,” a montage of all of the Irishman's best moments under the UFC banner. The video then transitions to 'UFC during the Dagestan era' and it is a montage of Khabib and Islam Makhachev wrestling their opponents.
McGregor is infamous for Khabib and his team for their wrestling-heavy fighting style, claiming they are 'crotch sniffers', etc.
Now Conor McGregor is seeing the funny side of Khabib Nurmagomedov's comments
However, McGregor now appears to have taken his own aim at the Irish MMA community, noting that a few fighters have sided with Nurmagomedov in the years since their fight. Perhaps the most notable case is former PFL star Myles Price.
Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The Kilkenny native was training at the American Kickboxing Academy around the time of the fight and was photographed in the gym with Nurmagomedov. He was a former teammate of McGregor and fought in a sort of defacto camp fight against Peter Queally in 2019.
McGregor tweeted and deleted a message that read: “Lots of Irish fighters lick his f***ing years and then he says y'all are s****. #Classic.” He then shared the post on his Instagram Story with the caption, “Pass it on, #sadasses.”
Related posts
Comments