Norman Parke is back under the pump in the UFC after his unanimous decision loss to Rustam Khabilov in London.
The Northern Irishman flagged near the end of his prelim bout at UFC London and was outscored 29-28 by all three judges.
Khabilov told reporters, after his win, that he got into Parke’s head way before the pair ever touched gloves in the octagon.
Parke had a run-in with Rustam Khabilov in a hotel both men were sharing in the lead-up to the fight.
The Russian had taken exception to some incendiary tweets sent by Parke and said he wanted to discuss them ‘eye to eye’. Khabilov said:
“Norman must not I have known I was angry with him.
“Maybe in Ireland [tweeting insults] is normal but in my homeland, if you talk sh*t about people you get one slap.
“I wanted to look him in the eyes to see what he would say – ‘Hey! Why are you talking bullshit on Twitter?’
“After this, I forgot about it and focused on the fight.”
You sure did Rustam. You sure did.
The pair seem to have patched up their differences now, at least.
Sportsmanship respect @norman_parke @ufc pic.twitter.com/BNOzjoJgZP
— Rustam Khabilov (@RustamTheTiger) February 27, 2016
