Conor McGgregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov are no strangers to online — or in-person — beef. But, over the past 24 hours, the bitter Lightweight rivals have engaged in a back-and-forth social media war that has crossed boundaries.
“Notorious” originally posted a since-deleted picture of Khabib and his wife, mocking her as a “towel” for wearing a traditional habib during their wedding. In response, “The Eagle” clapped back at the mouthy Irishman — who is married — by posting a picture of McGregor and an unidentified woman posing together, while reminding him of his ongoing sexual misconduct allegations.
In fact, he flat-out labeled him a “rapist.”
That was enough to get the attention of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, who just released a statement (via Yahoo! Sports) about the ugly social media beef between two of his biggest stars, vowing to take care of it internally.
“I am aware of the recent social media exchange between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. The ongoing situation has escalated to a level that is unacceptable. As such, we are taking the necessary steps to reach out to both athlete camps and this situation is being addressed by all parties internally.” — UFC president Dana White
Even Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier never took it that far.
Khabib cited McGregor and his team’s non-stop verbal abuse toward his family and religion as the reason for hopping over the cage after submitting him at UFC 229, which almost triggered a riot (see it here) inside T-Mobile Arena. That prompted Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to consider putting a muzzle on fighters when it came to over-the-top pre-fight trash talk at press conferences.
A suggestion that White initially scoffed at.
Nevertheless, White and Co. finally seem motivated to put an end to the heated beef between Conor and Khabib — at least online — and perhaps set a precedent for other fighters to have them think twice before engaging in personal insults toward each other.
What exactly White and the rest of UFC’s higher-ups intended to do, remains to be seen. Though it’s obvious McGregor has yet to get the memo:
Plot twist: It’s a goat under that towel
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 3, 2019
Khabib time.