Khabib Nurmagomedov's teammate bragged about slapping Conor McGregor in the post-fight brawl
- Khabib Nurmagomedov's sparring partner Zubaira Tukhugov has boasted about slapping the Irishman in a video shared on social media.
- The incident happened after UFC 229, when the main event descended into a chaotic brawl after Nurmagomedov leapt out of the octagon towards McGregor's entourage.
- The men who attacked McGregor in the octagon were arrested but later released after the fighter decided not to press charges, UFC boss Dana White reportedly said.
- The bad blood between McGregor and Tukhugov goes back to August when the Irishman accused Tukhugov of being a traitor for taking a fight with his Russian teammate Artem Lobov.
- The fight between Tukhugov and Lobov has been cancelled, White said in his post-fight conference, and Tukhugov has been banned from the UFC.
- Read all of Business Insider's UFC 229 coverage here.
You'd have to have been living under a rock to have missed the chaotic scenes that ensued after the UFC 229 main event on Saturday between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
A massive brawl broke out in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when Nurmagomedov leapt into the crowd after beating McGregor by submission in the fourth round.
Nurmagomedov was reportedly going for one of the Irishman's cageside friends, Dillon Danis, according to ESPN journalist Chamatkar Sandhu.
While all that was going on, a number of Nurmagomedov's teammates jumped into the octagon and started attacking McGregor.
Among them was fellow Russian UFC fighter Zubaira Tukhugov, who later took to social media to brag about slapping his friend's opponent.
"I slapped him as promised. I promised to make him answer for his words and I did," Tukhugov said in a video shared by MMA journalist Karim Zidan.
In another tweet, Zidan added that "Anyone who has studied/reported on the North Caucasus knows how they handle insults towards family members (especially elders) & attacks on religion."
According to The Mirror, Tukhugov also denied in the video that McGregor was able to land a punch on him, saying: "Everyone who thinks I missed, show me where. There is nothing. Just cop pushed me back on the video, as if I missed. Not even close.
"Everyone who thinks I missed, I swear, nothing was too close."
After the melee, UFC boss Dana White told FOX Sports that "three of Khabib's guys have been arrested and are on the way to jail now."
However, it was later reported that McGregor refused to press charges against his assailants and that the three men had been released.
In August, McGregor accused Tukhugov of treason in an inflammatory Instagram post after it was announced that he would take on the Irishman's sparring partner, Artem Lobov.
"A true Chechen would never assist in a Dagestani led attack on another Chechen," McGregor wrote in the Instagram caption.
"A true Chechen would never take orders from a Dagestani man. This is treason.
"There is no worse than treason."
In a recent interview with SBN, Tukhugov said: "Yes. He [McGregor] put my picture on Instagram, with a little bit of s--- about me. This is never. After my fight with Lobov, I see McGregor? I ask him, 'Tell me now. I am here.'
"If you are a man - if you're a Chechen man, American man, Ireland man - you tell him face. No put Instagram. No message."
He added, "I want to fight outside. No cage, outside, after Lobov. I tell him. And after my fight, I show him."
However, it's unlikely that Tukhugov will ever get to lock horns with McGregor in or out of the ring.
According to The Mirror, White said that the men who entered the ring after the fight, including Tukhugov, will never fight in the UFC again.
"I've been working hard to promote this sport, this is not what a mixed martial arts event is normally like," he said.