Submitting Conor McGregor was the highlight of Khabib Nurmagomedov's Hall of Fame career

• The win over Conor McGregor was Khabib Nurmagomedov's legacy-defining moment.
• That's according to Khabib himself, who said this to reporters ahead of his Hall of Fame induction.

LAS VEGAS — Ahead of his induction into the UFC Hall of Fame, Khabib Nurmagomedov told Insider and other reporters during a red carpet huddle that beating Conor McGregor was his career highlight.

"It was here – this arena – October 6, 2018," Nurmagomedov said Thursday. "Biggest fight in MMA history."

The two former lightweight prizefighters share one of the most bitter rivalries in combat sports history.

McGregor flew to New York in 2018 to confront Nurmagomedov after the Dagestan wrestler was seen on video slapping one of the Irishman's friends, Artem Lobov.

McGregor famously picked up a dolly and threw it at a bus full of fighters and UFC staff, as he attempted to board the vehicle and fight Nurmagomedov there and then.

The lengthy rivalry contained a bitter war of words, and some of it was tinged with racial overtones, as McGregor mocked Nurmagomedov's background, and wife, on social media.

They fought in one of the best-selling UFC events of all time, in 2018, with Nurmagomedov dropping McGregor en route to a legacy-defining fourth-round submission win via neck crank.

Rather than celebrate the victory, Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage to attack another of McGregor's friends, Dillon Danis, inciting a near-riot at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

"I'm very happy I win this fight," he told reporters four years after the victory.

"I can lose any of my fights. But no way this fight."

Nurmagomedov was enshrined in the "modern wing" of the UFC Hall of Fame

"I feel like I did a lot of things for this sport, and I'm very happy for this," Nurmagomedov said during his induction speech.

"This is a very big honor for me," he added. "When they put you in a high-level position like this, it means your hard work paid off."

Nurmagomedov retired undefeated in 2020 after beating Justin Gaethje by triangle choke during a behind-closed-doors event Insider attended in Abu Dhabi.

Nurmagomedov sent Gaethje to sleep, cried in the middle of the Octagon at UFC 254, and placed his gloves in the middle of the cage in emotional scenes.

"This is my last fight," Nurmagomedov said, months after his dad and trainer, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, died after coronavirus complications. "No way I'm going to come here without my father."