Darren Till has retracted a recent statement targeting fellow ex-UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The former welterweight and middleweight MMA prospect, who will box Anthony Taylor on January 18, joined the new fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
'The Eagle' renewed their feud by making harsh comments about Irish MMA, comparing it unfavorably to Dagestan as he previewed an upcoming Bellator fight between his cousin Usman Nurmagomedov and Northern Irish MMA star Paul Hughes.
Darren Till jumped to the defense of the Irish fighters after misunderstanding Nurmagomedov's point.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Darren Till takes back his comments
Darren Till originally thought an unfair comparison was being made between Irish and Russian MMA.
The two countries have vastly different population sizes and therefore produce different levels of athletic talent.
“I have always respected Khabib and his team immensely, they are fantastic fighters,” Till tweeted.
“But if he sits there and says that the fighters from Ireland are low level compared to the size of the countries and the production, Ireland is actually way ahead. Ireland is so damn small and Russia is so damn big.
“Ireland has produced great fighters over the years. I would say they are just slightly bigger than the size and production of the country that Ireland wins every time, and this I am not biased as I am neither friends with Khabib's side nor Ireland's side. I'm just stating my opinion. ”
However, Nurmagomedov was specifically talking about the Dagestan region of Russia, which actually has a smaller population than Ireland.
After realizing this, Till returned to social media to admit his mistake and retract his statement.
“I have to retract this tweet,” he said. “Khabib only talked about Dagestan, not Russia. I read it wrong…'
What did Khabib Nurmagomedov say?
Khabib Nurmagomedov stirred up quite a bit of drama during a recent interview with PFL.
“Brother, Ireland has no warriors, brother,” he said.
“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 be a champion.”
“Let's be honest: Dagestan's MMA level here (raises arm high). But the Irish level is not even half of Dagestan's level.”
The 29-0 MMA icon received quite a bit of criticism for his opinion, but he decided to double down on it.
“You can say whatever you want, but if we are talking about facts, you cannot compare Irish fighters with fighters from Dagestan,” Nurmagomedov tweeted on Friday.
“We dominate amateur MMA, and it's not even close – not just compared to Irish fighters, but to the whole world.
“I am absolutely confident that if we organized a team-versus-team match, Dagestan would beat a world team in amateur MMA. And when it comes to professional MMA, we have champions, contenders and ranked fighters in every major league.
“Show me Irish fighters who are currently title contenders in the top 3 MMA promotions. At best you can name 1 or 2 fighters. The facts speak for themselves.”
Unlike Till, Nurmagomedov won't be retracting his comments about Irish MMA anytime soon.
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