Khabib Nurmagomedov thinks the UFC may have helped organize Conor McGregor's infamous bus attack
- Khabib Nurmagomedov has been busy since defeating Conor McGregor to retain the UFC lightweight title.
- In an interview with Russian media, Nurmagomedov reportedly said the UFC may have helped organize McGregor's bizarre bus attack earlier in the year.
- According to a translation of the interview, Nurmagomedov says he was suspicious that McGregor and his team knew exactly where to go and had brought cameras.
During their recent match, Khabib Nurmagomedov forced Conor McGregor to tap out to retain his UFC lightweight title in the biggest fight in the history of the company.
Since then, Nurmagomedov has made the most of his star power, using his newfound leverage with the company to defend one of his teammates, enjoying a visit with Vladimir Putin, and even teasing a move to WWE.
But Nurmagomedov's most compelling interview may have been saved for Russian media. During a 90-minute interview with Russian station Channel 1, Nurmagomedov reportedly went into detail about his training and weight cut, and made an explosive accusation towards UFC, stating that he believed the company at least knew about and possibly helped organize Conor McGregor's infamous bus attack.
Here's what Nurmagomedov said, according to a translation by MMA Mania:
"When I think back there are so many questions I don't have the answer to, did they do it all on purpose? In my personal opinion, I feel like the bus incident was organized with UFC's help. I can't accuse them, but I would give it 70% that they did it. I wanted to get off the bus and all the other fighters on the bus confirmed this in their interviews, and all the managers as well."
"It all happened in a minute in a half, two minutes max," Khabib continued. "He's there with his cameras and his PR team with him shooting. An important point: the Barclays Center is a very big arena, a 20,000 person arena, but he knew where we were exactly. How could they have known? And how did they enter the arena with a gang of 20, 30 men? Come on."
"Conor has nothing to do with this media event and has a gang with him but these jokers lead him and everyone to the elevator where our bus is? I'm an athlete, but I'm also educated. My brain works pretty well for 15 years of fighting. I haven't taken many shots to the head so I still have brains."
Nurmagomedov cited the bus attack as one of the inciting incidents for his post-fight jump into the crowd and was clearly an event that left an impression on him.
For now, though, it seems everything worked out for the best for Nurmagomedov - he's the lightweight champion and can get a big-money rematch if he ever feels like fighting McGregor again.
You can read more from Nurmagomedov's interview as translated by MMA Mania here.