Daniel Cormier reacts to newly released audio of Khabib Nurmagomedov/Conor McGregor ending

Daniel Cormier has provided some context behind why the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor fight had a dark cloud around it.

The UFC released never-before-seen footage of Nurmagomedov submitting McGregor at UFC 229. The footage includes muted commentary with the sole audio coming from McGregor, Nurmagomedov, and referee Herb Dean.

After tapping out McGregor, Nurmagomedov spit on the former two-division champion and said “I f***ed you up b****” as Dean separated the two fighters. Seconds later, Nurmagomedov jumped into the crowd and attacked McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis in the stands.

the UFC just released the audio of Khabib spitting on Conor McGregor and saying “I f**ked you up, b*tch” after submitting him pic.twitter.com/5HurI5w1Pq

— OOC MMA (@oocmma) July 15, 2024

The above clip has gone viral since the UFC released it, and Cormier, Nurmagomedov’s longtime friend and former teammate, has weighed in.

Daniel Cormier: “I don’t know how Conor didn’t know he went too far”

In a recent episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy with Chael Sonnen, Cormier reacted to the new McGregor/Nurmagomedov fight audio making the rounds online.

“For as much as [Khabib] felt disrespected about the comments about his family, about his Dad, everything, even that action felt disrespectful because he didn’t want to feel that Conor McGregor could be entitled,” Cormier said. “I knew from being close to [Khabib] that when [Conor] started talking about his Dad, saying all those negative things, I knew that this rivalry and this fight would go to a different place. The one thing you don’t do in regards to that is talk about those guys’ fathers. In [Khabib’s] culture, they hold the father in such high regard, that when you take a shot at them you really get the entire village or community…

“So it wasn’t just him insulting Khabib and his Dad,” Cormier continued. “He was really insulting the guy that could essentially be called the father of all those Dagestani fighters, because he put so much into those young athletes. That fight was so filled with emotion…to me, I just don’t understand how [Conor] didn’t understand that he was going too far.”

Nurmagomedov entered the UFC Hall of Fame alongside Cormier in 2022. As for McGregor, he’s working towards an Octagon comeback against Michael Chandler, targeted for later this year.