Former UFC Heavyweight Brendan Schaub said that Khabib Nurmagomedov’s background does not excuse him from jumping out of the cage and attacking Conor McGregor’s team following his submission win over the Dubliner at UFC 229 on Saturday.
Nurmagomedov successfully defended his Lightweight title with a dominant victory over McGregor but soured the win when he scaled the cage fence to attack McGregor’s Jiu-Jitsu coach Dillon Danis.
After the fight the Dagestan native said that McGregor had crossed a line in the pre-fight build-up with references to his family and to his religion.
“What’s up guys. I want to say sorry to the athletic commission, sorry to Vegas,” Nurmagomedov said at the post-fight press conference.
“This is not my best side, I’m a human being and I don’t know how people can talk about me jumping out the cage.
“What about him talking about my family, my religion, the bus? Why are people talking about me jumping over the cage? My father talks to me about respect.
“They call him a two-time champion, two-weight world champion but he taps.
“People, the media change MMA. This is a respect sport, not a trash talking sport. Guys, you cannot talk about religion. This stuff is important.
“I know my father is going to smash me when I go home. Nevada, sorry, Vegas, sorry. Thank you so much, I am very proud.
“Putin just called me and told me he’s very proud of me, he said congratulations. I said everything was going to change on October 6th.”
https://twitter.com/btbshowtime/status/1049702035145326592
Both Nurmagomedov and McGregor await to hear from the Nevada State Athletic Commission regarding possible suspensions for their roles in the post-fight chaos but Schaub was quick to squash the theory that Nurmagomedov deserves a pass on the incident because of his background.
“A lot of fighters come from rough places,” Schaub said on his Below the Belt podcast.
“Life and death places. We’re not giving those guys free passes for the way they act. Why do it because Khabib is from Dagestan?
“‘Well the dictator there will kill you bro’ Cool man! Where [Tyron] Woodley is from the gangs will kill you. You do not get a free pass because of you’re government or because Conor is going to talk that shit.
“‘You got to know… being from Dagestan…..’ What are you talking about? Khabib is his own man. Khabib trains in San Jose, California. Sure where he comes from is a war-torn horrible place and there’s consequences for the way you act but most fighters come from the fucking ruts of this earth and they become diamonds and escape from the oppression of those ghettos.
“That does not work here. That does not work.”
