Earlier today Khabib Nurmagomedov was suspended for nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for his involvement in the UFC 229 post-fight brawl.
The suspension, which dates back to the brawl on October 6, 2018, means “The Eagle” is eligible to fight again on July 6, 2019. Nurmagomedov can get his suspension reduced to six months if he participates in an anti-bullying campaign. He was also fined $500,000.
By comparison, his rival Conor McGregor was handed a six-month suspension and a $50,000 fine. It’s safe to say Khabib’s involvement in the brawl was a bit more pronounced than McGregor’s. He leaped into the crowd to assault McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis, inciting the riot. McGregor, by comparison, scaled the cage to fight with Khabib’s teammates Zubaira Tukhugov and Abubakar Nurmagomedov.
But Khabib showed little remorse for what transpired. He didn’t see why the brawl was such a big deal, especially after McGregor had espoused such vitriolic and personal statements at every turn. He also threw a metal dolly at Khabib’s fighter bus in his now-infamous UFC 223 attack last April in New York. So Khabib issued a short response to the hearing today, and it focused on one thing:
“Politics forever,” he wrote.
What Does The Future Hold?
Not exactly a surprising response from the soft-spoken-yet-dominant champion. He’s usually a man of few words who chooses to let his in-cage skills do his talking.
As mentioned, Khabib will be out until this July unless he completes the anti-bullying campaign. If he does not, he could be out until the fall at the earliest as he takes his normal hiatus for the Muslim tradition of Ramadan.
But if he does, the timing of the discussed rematch between he and McGregor could happen this spring, perhaps in April when both can return. It’s not exactly a great fight based on the one-sided nature of the first fight. But there’s not another bout that would attract as much mainstream attention right now.
So you can count on it being made if both fighters are available. We’ll see if the ‘politics’ Khabib mentioned get in the way of that in the immediate future.
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