Khabib Nurmagomedov: “I was offended that all the hype leading up to this fight focused on the idea that he attacked and I didn’t get off the bus”
UFC 229 took place on Saturday October 6, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card aired on pay-per-view while the televised prelims on FS1 and the early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
For the official results, bonuses and Reebok Sponsorship Payout you can go here. For the fighter salaries you can go here. And for the medical suspensions you can go here.
What should be the talk of the night with Khabib defeating Conor, a lot of the talk is about the brawl that occurred aftet the fight. Khabib jumped the cage and attacked McGregor’s corner. You can read more about the UFC 229 The Aftermath- What We Know & Reaction by going here.
Check out Khabib’s first statement from a 90 minute interview on a Russian state-backed broadcasters Channel One (transcribed by MMAMania).
“I was offended that all the hype leading up to this fight focused on the idea that he attacked and I didn’t get off the bus,” he said in Russian. “It was a shame and I asked the Almighty for the fight to happen and the cage door to close with us in it so everyone could find out who is who. Who actually sits on the bus and who doesn’t.”
“All the other situations, it has been me with my team of about 20 people … But in the in the end I was told for media day I have to go alone, I was riding not with my team but with all the other red corner fighters on the card. So I had one man and my manager with me. When I think back there are so many questions I don’t have the answer to, did they do it all on purpose?” he asked. “In my personal opinion, I feel like the bus incident was organized with UFC’s help. I can’t accuse them, but I would give it 70% that they did it. I wanted to get off the bus and all the other fighters on the bus confirmed this in their interviews, and all the managers as well.”
Khabib continued and explained why he feels Conor McGregor and the UFC must have organized the attack.
“It all happened in a minute in a half, two minutes max,” Khabib continued. “He’s there with his cameras and his PR team with him shooting. An important point: the Barclays Center is a very big arena, a 20,000 person arena, but he knew where we were exactly. How could they have known? And how did they enter the arena with a gang of 20, 30 men? Come on.”
“Conor McGregor has nothing to do with this media event and has a gang with him but these jokers lead him and everyone to the elevator where our bus is?” Khabib shrugged disbelief. “I’m an athlete, but I’m also educated. My brain works pretty well for 15 years of fighting. I haven’t taken many shots to the head so I still have brains.”
Stay tuned to FightBookMMA as we will keep you updated on this topic.
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Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.
