“But inside the cage he didn’t say anything. When I was hitting him in the face with my elbows and knees, he did not say anything.”
Things turned very ugly on social media earlier this week when Conor McGregor posted a tweet (later deleted) insulting Khabib Nurmagomedov’s wife. Nurmagomedov, the reigning UFC lightweight champion, responded by calling McGregor a ‘rapist’.
Things continued to escalate, with Khabib warning McGregor that he ‘isn’t safe’ after insulting Islam, until ‘The Notorious’ tweeted that he wanted to ‘move on’ with fans of all faiths and backgrounds.
Things seem to have cooled off since then but, Nurmagomedov, who submitted McGregor in a PPV-smashing grudge match at UFC 229, still thinks the Irishman is a ‘low life.’
Speaking with RT Sport in a recent interview, ‘The Eagle’ blasted McGregor for lobbing insults behind the comfort of his keyboard rather than confronting him face-to-face, man to man.
‘That just shows what kind of lowlife he is’: Khabib responds to McGregor’s ‘insults’
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— RT Sport (@RTSportNews) April 4, 2019
“He wants to always be in the headlines,” Khabib said in Russian. “If you’ve noticed, after each UFC event, [he] makes comments. He praises those who win, or insults the others. This is his way of self-promotion, that’s how he makes headlines all the time. He knows what he’s doing.
“And I have no problem with that, he can say whatever he wants. But inside the cage he didn’t say anything. When I was hitting him in the face with my elbows and knees, he did not say anything. When I said ‘Let’s talk,’ he didn’t respond. And now, when he is thousands of kilometers away, he is saying things.
“That just shows what kind of lowlife he really is. When he was on the floor he didn’t speak to me, and that is what really matters.”
This latest round of trash talk only stokes the fires for a rematch between both men, but Nurmagomedov recently confirmed that his next bout will be a title defense against the winner of next Saturday’s interim lightweight title clash between Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway. UFC 236: Poirier vs. Holloway takes place on April 13 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.