Not many people got an apology from Khabib Nurmagomedov on Saturday night.
Nurmagomedov didn’t apologise to UFC President Dana White or anyone on Conor McGregor’s team after jumping out of the Octagon to confront Dillon Danis following his fourth-round submission victory in the main event of UFC 229.
In his brief post-fight press conference, ‘The Eagle’ did apologise to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who withheld his $2 million payment as a result of the antics which followed the defence of his lightweight title in Las Vegas.
It’s since emerged that another individual received an apology for the melee which marred the biggest fight in UFC history as backstage footage from the event has revealed a humble exchange with his head coach.
Javier Mendez, who is the head trainer at the American Kickboxing Academy, repeated that “it’s OK” after Nurmagomedov said: “Sorry coach. This is not me, this is not me.”
The footage, released by Anatomy of a Fighter, also shows Nurmagomedov’s immediate reaction after arriving back into his dressing room.
Having been escorted out of the Octagon without his belt in order to avoid a full-scale riot at the T-Mobile Arena, Nurmagomedov returned to his dressing room and could be heard telling his team: “I told you guys he is a tap machine. He cannot fight five rounds!” at the 4:20 mark of the above video.
Nurmagomedov has since insisted that he will not fight for the UFC again if the organisation’s president stays true to his promise to cut the undefeated Russian’s teammates who rushed the cage to attack McGregor on Saturday.
He wrote on Instagram: “In any case, punish me, Zubaira Tukhugov 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.
“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.”
