Khabib Nurmagomedov reacts to Conor McGregor’s bus attack: ‘I am laughing’
Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t sound fired up. He doesn’t sound bothered, actually.
Just hours after Conor McGregor and his friends stormed a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and other fighters competing on Saturday’s UFC 223 card in the Barclays Center loading dock, Nurmagomedov said he wasn’t impressed by Team McGregor’s antics.
“I am laughing inside,” Nurmagomedov said. “You broke window? Why? Come inside. You know UFC don’t let you come inside. If you real gangster why don’t you come inside?
“This is big history gangster place. Brooklyn. You want to talk to me? Send me location. We have to talk? I am gonna come, no problem.
“I grew up like this. I don’t grow up throwing chairs at window. This is not my bus.”
Following Thursday’s media day at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., McGregor, as well as members of his team, entered the arena. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, they arrived in “retaliation” against Nurmagomedov and his team cornering Artem Lobov, a teammate and good friend of McGregor’s, earlier in the week. Bad blood has been brewing for months between both camps.
On Thursday, according to multiple video accounts and sources, McGregor and his team confronted a bus carrying the red corner fighters competing on Saturday night’s card and began throwing equipment at the bus. Michael Chiesa, who is scheduled to fight Anthony Pettis at UFC 223, suffered multiple facial cuts as a result of a broken window. He was taken to a local hospital to treat the cuts, but he has since been released and is still planning on competing on the card.
UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas, who defends her belt against Joanna Joanna Jędrzejczyk, was visibly shaken up but not physically injured and is, according to sources, still planning on competing Saturday night.
Ray Borg, who meets Brandon Moreno at UFC 223, had glass from the shattered window hit his eye but is not injured, according to sources.
UFC president Dana White said a company employee was also injured in the incident.
Nurmagomedov wanted to make it very clear that his whole team wasn’t on the bus.
“This is not my team bus, this is red corner bus,” he said. “My whole team wasn’t with me. It was just me, (my manager) Ali Abdelaziz and a cornerman, Muhammed. The whole red corner was on the bus. Rose Namajunas, Al Iaquinta, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Ray Borg. Everyone.”
Asked if he was injured, Nurmagomedov said, “I am good. I feel good. Tomorrow, I am going to make weight. On Saturday, I am going to take belt and change the game.”
Following the incident, UFC president Dana White told reporters that there was a warrant out for McGregor’s arrest, however MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi later reported that as of 3:55 p.m. EST that was not the case, per a New York Police Department spokesperson.
“To be honest, I don’t want him to go to jail,” Nurmagomedov said. “We have to fight. If we have to fight, let’s fight. Send me location. Please, we have to fix this. Me and you. One-on-one. You want 10-on-10? OK.
“I give his whole team slap and no one say anything. He come with media, with cameras when I’m alone. Of course I want to go outside but they don’t let me leave the bus. He knows this.
“They don’t do nothing. I’m here.”
Earlier this week, McGregor was still on the fence about traveling to Brooklyn, sources say. However, once footage emerged of Nurmagomedov and his team members confronting Lobov, who has since been pulled from his UFC 223 fight against Alex Caceres for his involvement in the incident, that set the wheels in motion to retaliate.
When asked on Wednesday about the Lobov run-in, Nurmagomedov shrugged it off as “nothing,” however, on Thursday he said, “I explained to Artem like a small baby, ‘Hey, no more talk about me.’”
Nurmagomedov is scheduled to fight Max Holloway on Saturday night for what is being described as the “official lightweight title.” McGregor has yet to be officially stripped of the belt.
