Khabib Nurmagomedov Reveals Why He Went After Dillon Danis After Win Over Conor McGregor At UFC 229, Sees No Need For Rematch With McGregor

Khabib Nurmagomedov has finally revealed why he went after Dillon Danis, Conor McGregor’s training partner, after he submitted Conor McGregor at UFC 229 in Las Vegas. A brawl ensued between the two corners which the Nevada State Athletic Commission is still ruling on. Khabib is expected to be suspended over it.

Khabib said in a video posted by Australia’s Submission Radio (h/t MMAJunkie) that he went after Dabis because he was the only member of McGregor’s team who was of an age that was appropriate to start a fight with.

“I didn’t hear him (during the fight),” Khabib said. “I jumped on (Danis) because the other corner is too old – because Conor’s other corner and coaches are too old. That’s why I jumped on him because he’s almost like my age. If I jumped on (McGregor head coach John) Kavanagh, I don’t think it’s too old because Kavanagh can’t fight me.

“In the fight, I didn’t hear him because it was too loud. But I don’t like his whole team. If I had a choice (for) what I (was) going to do, but all the other coaches were too old for me – they can’t fight with me; they’re almost like my father’s age – that’s why I jumped on him.”

Khabib also doesn’t really see the need for a rematch with McGregor since he dominated him so fully in their previous fight.

“I was looking for punishment, first of all,” Khabib said. “I wanted to make him tired – it meant a lot to me when he tapped. He asked me to finish the fight – this is much better than a knockout. If I knocked him out in the second round, you go down, but people are going to talk about, ‘Oh, it’s luck.’ But what about if you smash him all four rounds and he taps? It’s finished there. No more.

“I don’t think he ever wants to compete with me because he felt everything. He felt my mental (strength), he felt my control, my striking, all of that – and he tapped.

“He tried to talk with me (in the cage) about, ‘It’s only business, what this meant for me … please calm down, don’t smash me.’ He tried to get me to relax. We already had finished three rounds (of the) fight, and then he tried to talk about ‘this is is only business’ – it just showed his weakness.”