Weekend Herald

Nurmagomed­ov threat to break contract

-

Unbeaten UFC lightweigh­t champion Khabib Nurmagomed­ov has threatened the leave the world’s biggest MMA promotion in the fallout following his submission win over Conor McGregor at UFC 229 last weekend.

Nurmagomed­ov mauled the Irishman, who was fighting in the octagon for the first time in two years, however his performanc­e was overshadow­ed by the melee that broke out inside and outside the octagon following the fight.

While Nurmagomed­ov launched himself out of the cage in reaction to members of McGregor’s team, McGregor took a swipe at a member of the Russian’s team inside the cage which saw other members of Nurmagomed­ov’s team enter the cage and unload on McGregor.

One of those was UFC featherwei­ght Zubaira Tukhugov, who has since been pulled from his scheduled bout at UFC Fight Night Moncton in New Brunswick later this month. In a post on Instagram, Nurmagomed­ov addressed the UFC in their approach to dealing with the melee, questionin­g whether there was a double standard set in McGregor’s case.

“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,” Nurmagomed­ov said.

“In any case, punish me, [Tukhugov] has nothing to do with that. If you think that I’ll keep silent then you are mistaken. You cancelled 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.’’

 ?? Picture / Getty Images ?? Nurmagomed­ov is held by the ref during his fight.
Picture / Getty Images Nurmagomed­ov is held by the ref during his fight.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand