Khabib Nurmagomedov Believes Conor McGregor Is Finished, Says MMA Should Stop Supporting Him

Khabib Nurmagomedov was not a fan of what he saw from Conor McGregor after his loss to Dustin Poirier, and believes that the former champion is “finished.” Nurmagomedov, who of course has his own storied history with McGregor, spoke with ESPN and expressed disdain for how McGregor insulted Poirier and made threats after he lost due to his lower left leg break during the UFC 264 bout.

“Money and fame show who you are,” Nurmagomedov said. “All the time we hear that money and fame change people. No. When money and fame come, these two things show who you are. And what has [McGregor] done? He punched an old guy [in a bar in 2019]. You guys can watch everything he did and understand, it’s just like Dustin said, ‘This guy is a bag of s**t.’

He continued, “I saw a lot of tweets try to support him. How are you gonna support this guy? When kids, young generation watch him, watch this sport? If you want to promote your fight, promote. If the MMA community is going to support this bad people, this sport is going to go in a bad way.”

Nurmagomedov fought McGregor at UFC 229 in October of 2018, beating him in a defense of the UFC Lightweight Championship. In the leadup to that fight, McGregor insulted Nurmagomedov’s religion, his wife, and his father and had previously thrown a metal equipment dolly at a bus Nurmagomedov was on at a media day event for UFC 223. After the win over McGregor, Nurmagomedov leapt out of the cage and charged McGregor’s team while McGregor got in a scuffle with Nurmagomedov’s cousin Abubakar Nurmagomedov inside the Octagon.

Asked about McGregor’s future as a fighter, Nurmagomedov said, “Without broken legs, yes, [he could be the same]. But with broken legs, he’s never going to kick the same. With him, no, I don’t believe [he’ll return to the top]. Conor have good age [32], but what happened with his mind, legs — this guy is finished, but he’s good for promotion.”