It may not have seemed like it, but Khabib Nurmagomedov unleashed some trash talk at Justin Gaethje during their title fight.
Nurmagomedov successfully defended his lightweight title following a second-round submission win over Gaethje in the UFC 254 headliner back in October.
It was an emotional affair given that it was the first time Nurmagomedov was competing following the death of his father as he went on to retire after the fight.
However, that didn’t stop “The Eagle” from trash talking Gaethje during the fight.
When asked following UFC Fight Island 7 if Max Holloway was the coolest fighter in the sport, UFC president Dana White revealed some of the trash talk Nurmagomedov directed at Gaethje — as told by “The Eagle” himself.
“You know what’s funny when you say that about Max, and it’s so true, I was with Khabib last night and he was telling me – and I didn’t know this, maybe you guys did – all the stuff that him and Gaethje were talking about during their fight,” White said (via talkSPORT).
“Gaethje hit him with a couple of shots and he thought Gaethje looked kind of weird so he pointed at him and said ‘you have jet-lag’ in the middle of the fight. Gaethje said ‘no, I don’t’ and hit him with an uppercut and a left-hook, then Khabib said something to him again and he leg kicked him.
“And then I guess when he took him down, Khabib was on top of him, he said ‘now what are you going to do?’ and he’s telling me all this s*** these two are talking about during their fight. First of all, the fight didn’t go that long, I don’t know how much of a conversation they could have had! But, Holloway is one of those guys too.”
Perhaps we might see Nurmagomedov trash talk his opponent one more time in the near future.