Khabib Nurmagomedov reveals why he went after Dillon Danis at UFC 229

UFC 229 was quite a memorable night in MMA.

It was the biggest and most purchased event in the sport’s history and it had plenty of awesome bouts. The main event, of course, being the one to leave a lasting impression… For good and bad.

In the said main event, lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov would successfully defend his title against the former champion Conor McGregor.

Due to the feud’s hostile nature, the bad blood wound up boiling over immediately as the fight concluded.

The champion would ascend the Octagon to go out and attack one of McGregor’s cornermen, Bellator welterweight prospect, Dillon Danis who had reportedly been shouting obscenities at him towards the end of the fight.

“No, I didn’t hear him, you know,” Nurmagomedov told Submission Radio. “I jumped on him because other corner is too old; because Conor’s other corner, coaches are too old, and that’s why I jumped on [Danis] because he’s almost like my age.

“If I jumped on [John] Kavanagh, I don’t think it’s too… Cause Kavanagh can’t fight me. That’s why I jumped on [Danis]. But when I fight, I didn’t hear him, it was too loud. But I don’t like his whole team. I have choice what I’m gonna do, but all other old coaches were too old for me. They cannot fight with me. They’re almost like my father’s age. That’s why I jump on him.”

Because of his actions, Nurmagomedov still finds himself waiting for a likely fine and suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

But as he continued to reflect on that night, ‘The Eagle’ explained how much it mean to defeat McGregor the way that he did.

“I’m looking for punishment, first of all,” Nurmagomedov said. “I wanted to make him tired. It’s very good when he tapped. It meant a lot for me [when he] tapped.

“Please, he asked me [to] finish [the fight]. This is much better than a knockout. If you knock him out, like, if I knocked him out in the second round, you go down, but people gonna talk about, oh, it’s luck, you know. 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 [again]. Because he felt everything. [He] felt my mental, he felt my control, my striking and all that, and he tapped too.”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/23/2019