Khabib Nurmagomedov threw a dig at Conor McGregor, who attacked a UFC bus carrying Nurmagomedov and several other UFC fighters on Thursday evening, following his UFC Lightweight Championship victory over late replacement Al Iaquinta on Saturday. McGregor attacked the bus and shattered a window by throwing a dolly through it, which injured multiple fighters inside.
“Where’s Conor,” Nurmagomedov asked. “You want to fight with bus? Iaquinta is real Brooklyn gangster.”
Nurmagomedov also called out Georges St-Pierre, after the fight.
“But now, I want to fight with Georges St-Pierre in New York. Madison Square Garden,” Nurmagomedov said. He also added that “Give me 30 minutes, and I can fight with anybody.”
There was a brief time after Tony Ferguson was pulled from the Nurmagomedov fight that the UFC considered setting up McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov further down the line, according to Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting. McGregor was in New York to back up his friend, Artem Lobov, but was also negotiating a new contract with Dana White and the UFC, per Helwani.
Lobov was involved in a confrontation with Nurmagomedov and his team at a hotel on Tuesday, and McGregor, who was stripped of the lightweight title, reportedly took offense to that. But McGregor went through with his ill-advised attack, which left multiple fighters wounded and caused three matches to be removed from Saturday’s card, including Lobov’s bout, though neither he nor his opponent were injured.
Lobov was pulled from the card for his involvement in this entire situation. Michael Chiesa suffered lacerations from the broken window, and Brandon Moreno wound up with glass shards in his eye, and both had to be pulled from the card. That, in turn, left their opponents, Anthony Pettis and Ray Borg, respectively, without opponents and were taken off the card as well.
Dana White called McGregor’s attack on the bus the “most disgusting thing that has ever happened” in UFC history.
The initial headliner. Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov, has been scheduled and cancelled four times due to injury. Prior to the McGregor attack and in the promotion leading up to Saturday’s card, Nurmagomedov noted that he would prefer a fight against St-Pierre over McGregor if he won the title, because it would be better for his legacy.
“I think about Georges St-Pierre,” Nurmagomedov said “He talk about he can make 155. He already middleweight and welterweight champion. Why not? For his legacy and my legacy, it’s very important.”
McGregor’s last fight in the UFC was his TKO win over Eddie Alvarez that won him the lightweight belt, adding to the featherweight belt that he already possessed after beating Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo. The Alvarez fight was in November 2016.
“So much rumor and misinformation about my client, Conor McGregor,” manager Audie Attar said in a statement on Saturday. “The matter is in the hands of law enforcement and I cannot really say more.
“He looks forward to getting back to fighting as soon as possible.”
After that, he had a very lucrative boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr., which he lost. His return to the either sport is up in the air at this point, with the next hearing for his multiple assault charges set for June 14.