“If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too.”
That was the warning from Khabib Nurmagomedov to the UFC bosses after a member of his entourage, who was involved in the brawl following the fight against Conor McGregor, had his own bout cancelled as a result.
Nurmagomedov took to Instagram on Thursday to vent his anger at the UFC’s apparent decision to prevent Zubaira Tukhugov from competing against Artem Lobov at a UFC Fight Night on October 27 in Canada.
The plot thickens further, as Lobov is part of McGregor’s team and was the man Nurmagomedov hit in a hotel in April, which led to the Irishman throwing a steel trolley at a bus in which his Russian rival and his entourage were sitting – shattering a large window.
It all came to a head in Las Vegas last Saturday after Nurmagomedov beat McGregor by submission in the fourth round to retain his lightweight title.
The post-fight brawl saw the 30-year-old from Dagestan charge at McGregor’s corner as he felt that his opponent’s camp had insulted his “religion, country and father” in the build-up.
But Nurmagomedov feels that it was McGregor who threw the first punch at one of his teammates that sparked the brawl, and now he is threatening to quit UFC if Tukhugov is punished.
“I would like to address @ufc Why didn’t you fire anyone when their team attacked the bus and injured a couple of people? They could have killed someone there, why no one says anything about insulting my homeland, religion, nation, family?” Nurmagomedov said on Instagram.
“Why do you have to punish my team, when both teams fought. If you say that I started it, then I do not agree, I finished what he had started.
“In any case, punish me, @zubairatukhugov has nothing to do with that.
“If you think that I’ll keep silent then you are mistaken. You canceled Zubaira’s fight and you want to dismiss him just because he hit Conor. But don’t forget that it was Conor who had hit my another Brother FIRST, just check the video.
“If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too.
“We never give up on our brothers in Russia and I will go to the end for my Brother. If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I’ll break it myself.”
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A post shared by Zubaira Tukhugov(@zubairatukhugov) on Oct 6, 2018 at 9:12pm PDT
Nurmagomedov’s $2 million paycheque has been withheld while the Nevada State Athletic Commission investigates the brawl, but he said he won’t mind losing that money by standing up for his teammate.
“And one more thing, you can keep my money that you are withholding. You are pretty busy with that, I hope it won’t get stuck in your throat.
“We have defended our honor and this is the most important thing. We intend to go to the end. #Brothers”
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A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov(@khabib_nurmagomedov) on Oct 11, 2018 at 6:32am PDT
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