Khabib Nurmagomedov threatened to quit the UFC if his teammate is banned for hitting Conor McGregor during the brawl that erupted following the pair’s fight at UFC 229.
Zubaira Tukhugov was involved in the aftermath at the T-Mobile Arena after Nurmagomedov attacked Dillon Danis.
But the unbeaten Nurmagomedov believes it would be unfair to punish Tukhugov, who has an 18-4 record in MMA, especially after McGregor attacked the Nurmagomedov bus in April.
Nurmagomedov vented his frustrations in a lengthy Instagram post.
“I would like to address @ufc,” he wrote. “Why didn’t you fire anyone when their team attacked the bus and injured a couple of people? They could have killed someone there, why no one says anything about insulting my homeland, religion, nation, family?
“Why do you have to punish my team, when both teams fought. If you say that I started it, then I do not agree, I finished what he had started. In any case, punish me, @zubairatukhugov has nothing to do with that.”
In the post, he added that he believes McGregor was the one who started the fight in the Octagon after landing the first blow.
“If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too. We never give up on our brothers in Russia and I will go to the end for my Brother,” Nurmagomedov continued. “If you think that I’ll keep silent then you are mistaken. You canceled Zubaira’s fight and you want to dismiss him just because he hit Conor. But don’t forget that it was Conor who had hit my another Brother FIRST, just check the video.
“If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I’ll break it myself.”
Nurmagomedov and McGregor have still not received their money for the fight on Saturday night because it is being withheld.
But the Russian told the UFC to keep the purse.
“And one more thing, you can keep my money that you are withholding. You are pretty busy with that, I hope it won’t get stuck in your throat,” he said.
“We have defended our honor and this is the most important thing. We intend to go to the end. #Brothers.”
McGregor was beaten by Nurmagomedov, the UFC lightweight champion, on Saturday, when the Russian was able to lock the Irishman in a neck crank in the fourth round.
But it was the scenes afterward that caused the biggest controversy when Nurmagomedov attacked McGregor’s teammate.
Danis broke his silence and claims Nurmagomedov’s fans are “trying to smear me in an effort to justify his actions.”
Nurmagomedov received a hero’s welcome when he returned to his homeland this week.
And Wednesday the MMA ace and his father, Abdulmanap, were flown first class to meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ulyanovsk.
They discussed the post-fight brawl and the Russian leader said: “Anyone could have jumped [from the cage] in the same way.
“If we are attacked from the outside, not only you, we could all jump in such a way … there could be hell to pay. But it’s better not to reach that stage. I will ask you father not to punish you too strictly, because you achieved the main task, worthily and convincingly.”