MMA legend believes Conor McGregor rivalry was orchestrated by UFC
McGregor and Khabib clashed in 2018 after years of animosity, with the Russian winning by submission as he retained the UFC lightweight title in one of the biggest ever fights in the sport's history.
The build-up to the bout was fraught with controversy. Beginning with McGregor's infamous attack on a fighter's bus in New York which contained Nurmagomedov and ending with a string of uncomfortably personal press conferences, the rivalry was probably the most heated of the last decade.
And MMA icon Khabib believes the feud was stoked by the UFC in a similar style to how a WWE storyline plays out, and he is convinced that upper management were pulling the strings behind the scenes.
"Hunter might not like hearing this, but it was Dana White who built that fight up," Khabib said in a recent interview for The Hustle Show.
"It was all Dana's doing. I even told him he did a good job. 'Good job, Dana.' Not just him. Hunter alone wouldn't have been enough. They were all involved."
The now retired MMA superstar also spoke about how his scheduled final confrontation with McGregor never came to fruition thanks to McGregor's non-existent timekeeping skills.
'I still had weight to cut,' Nurmagomedov said. 'Everything was scheduled to the minute. At 2:30 p.m. you're supposed to arrive at the arena. You go backstage and wait, everyone is supposed to be there by 2:30.
"At 3 p.m., the press conference starts. According to the schedule and the contract, it runs from 3 p.m. until 4 p.m., I think, no delays allowed. I showed up and asked if he had arrived yet.
"They said, 'No.' And someone said, 'He hasn't even left yet.' He's probably going to be late. And I'm like, 'Aha.'
Nurmagomedov went on to win that fight by submission and emphatically end the feud. He retired in 2020 after beating Justin Gaethje and hung up his gloves with a professional record of 29-0.
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