Khabib Calls Conor McGregor 'Evil' for Deleted Tweet About Deceased Father
August 5, 2021
Former UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov thought longtime rival Conor McGregor crossed a clear line with a since-deleted tweet that many thought referenced Khabib's late father, Abdulmanap.
"When [Conor] talked about this, only evil can talk about your father, wife, kids, religion," Nurmagomedov said on Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson (via TMZ Sports). "If you're normal human, you're never going to talk about this stuff."
After McGregor lost to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on July 10, Khabib tweeted that "Good always defeats evil."
On Monday, McGregor tweeted and subsequently deleted, "Covid is good and father is evil?"
Abdulmanap died in July 2020 after experiencing complications stemming from his COVID-19 diagnosis.
Khabib took the death of his father hard. He unexpectedly retired immediately after his victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020 and said at the time "there's no way I'm going to be back without my father."
McGregor has made his career in part on insulting his opponents and their camps to generate more attention for his fights. Khabib isn't an exception.
Prior to his encounter with the unbeaten legend at UFC 229, he called Nurmagomedov's trainer, Ali Abdelaziz, a "snitch terrorist rat." McGregor also targeted Nurmagomedov's wife in a since-deleted tweet in 2019.
In an interview with ESPN's Brett Okamoto last October, Nurmagomedov said he would turn down $5 billion to be involved in a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite McGregor. After the Irish star's recent Twitter post, that stance probably remains unchanged.