Khabib Nurmagomedov Claims Conor McGregor Support Is 'Bad' For MMA After UFC 264 Defeat

Khabib Nurmagomedov has reignited his feud with Conor McGregor by insisting that the sport of MMA is "going to go in a bad way" if people continue to support him.

McGregor's hopes of avenging his UFC 257 defeat to Dustin Poirier were shattered in their trilogy fight at UFC 264 last Saturday.

The 33-year-old Irish UFC superstar suffered a horrific broken leg in the first round, with Poirier awarded a TKO win (via doctor's stoppage) in Las Vegas.

However, McGregor pulled no punches in the build-up to their third fight as he trolled Poirier by targeting his UFC rival's wife, Jolie Poirier.

The Notorious turned up his trash-talking antics by claiming that he would "kill" Poirier and the Diamond would be "taken out on a stretcher."

Khabib, who defeated McGregor in their 2018 blockbuster fight at UFC 229, has now hit out at the Irishman over his controversial actions inside and outside of the octagon.

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The 32-year-old Russian superstar blasted McGregor's chequered history by pointing to the time when he punched an old man at the Marble Arch pub in Dublin in 2019.

And Khabib, who retired undefeated with an unblemished 29-0 record, was perplexed at why fans tweeted in support of McGregor.

"Money and fame show who you are," he told ESPN.

"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. You guys can watch everything he did and understand, it's just like Dustin said, 'This guy is a bag of s**t.'

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"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 [these] bad people, this sport is going to go in a bad way."

McGregor has since claimed that he was already suffering from an injury ahead of his leg break against Poirier in his UFC 264 defeat.

Topics: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor Mcgregor, Dustin Poirier, UFC, MMA

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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