Conor McGregor is taking the low road with the recent Khabib Nurmagomedov scandal
By Amy Kaplan
The feud between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the most dramatic in the history of the sport. The trash talk is incredibly personal, involving religion, family, and crime. And even though it's been years since it's been the worst, it hasn't seem to have lost any steam.
The trash talk is a big confusing, so let's get the most recent storyline straight. Earlier this week a Russian MMA fighter, Gadzhimurad Kagirov, was one of five men involved in an attack on a place of worship in Dagestan. That fighter has ties to Nurmagomedov, but only briefly. According to the former UFC champion, Kagirov trained at his gym for just six months and was never a part of the official team. He also condemned the attacks.
“Going into a church and killing someone just because they practice a different religion. Do I really need to condemn this?" he said. "Isn’t it clear that this is a brutal and inhumane act? Where and when has something like this (been normal)? In Dagestan, over 30 nationalities, and of course, the majority practice Islam, but we also have Jews and Christians. This has never happened in 30-35 years, as long as I’ve lived in Dagestan.”
On Friday, news footage apparently shows Russian authorities raiding Nurmagomedov's gym in connection with the attacks, though it's unconfirmed.
Here's where McGregor stepped back in. One of the trash-talking points from their 2018 fight was McGregor accusing Nurmagomedov and his father and his teammates as being terrorists. Now he's basking in the clory that he thinks he's being proven right.
Conor McGregor is back to calling Khabib Nurmagomedov a terrorist
McGregor even tweeted at his old friend, Artem Lobov, who McGregor hopped on a plane to defend back when the feud with Nurmagomedov started. Now their friendship is over and he's not holding anything back.
"Yo rartem what you make of the news?" he tweeted. "The lads that slapped you like a bald ass are proper terrorists. Mad isn’t it , where are you hiding collecting welfare these days bro? Bald slap head Rat."
He also tweeted and deleted a message aimed at Ali Abdelaziz and his alleged involvement in the September 11 attacks in the United States.
The thing is, McGregor should really be staying out of this. These are very serious accusations and should be dealt with in the right way. This is not fodder for entertainment or something to be used to build up a fight or keep a feud going. There are real people dying and real lives at stake. I'd like to see a lot more evidence that Nurmagomedov is involved before I call anyone a terrorist and McGregor should wait too.