Khabib Nurmagomedov incited one of the most controversial moments in MMA history after UFC 229.
‘The Eagle’ submitted Conor McGregor to defend his lightweight belt and seemingly settle their bitter feud in October 2018.
However, Khabib Nurmagomedov celebrated by leaping from the cage and attacking Dillon Danis to start the ugliest post-fight brawl the UFC has ever seen.
Seven years later, the Russian legend’s coach has claimed that ‘respect’ was at the forefront of his star pupil’s mind when he was trying to assault Conor McGregor‘s teammate.
Reason Khabib Nurmagomedov attacked Dillon Danis revealed
Renowned MMA coach Javier Mendez didn’t ask Khabib Nurmagomedov to explain his post-fight actions at UFC 229 until years later.
When he did, the American Kickboxing Academy founder was told the attack on Danis was born out of respect for his elders, which stopped him from going after McGregor’s head coach, John Kavanagh, instead.
“Believe it or not, I never asked him why he did that until a couple of years after,” Mendez recently revealed on the ‘Tracy Harmoush: What They Don’t Tell Us Podcast’.
“I said, ‘Khabib, why did you go after Dillon Danis?’ He goes, ‘Well coach, his head coach was too old and it would be disrespectful. So I had to go after Dillon. He was more my age.’
“So, I said, ‘Ah, it was respect.’ Even in his anger, he went after Dillon. He couldn’t touch the coach, he had to go after the younger one and that was Dillon Danis.
“Dillon was the one talking the most stuff anyway. He was egging Khabib on through the whole fight anyway. You know, he did that because the coach is too old and he couldn’t attack him, so he went after the second one.”
Will Khabib Nurmagomedov ever fight again?
Khabib Nurmagomedov retired after choking out Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020.
Several years later, he’s widely regarded as one of the best coaches in MMA after helping fighters win titles in the UFC, Bellator, and PFL.
Still, the 36-year-old has been forced to address rumors about a potential return to the UFC Octagon.
“There is no chance, none. Not even 1 percent, minus [chance],” Nurmagomedov said in October 2024.
“If you guys need champions, I’m helping my brothers to become champions… We have Islam [Makhachev] as a champion, we have Umar [Nurmagomedov] as the next contender, we have Usman [Nurmagomedov] as champion – we have a lot of champions.
“You guys are never going to miss me because in our team and our gym, we create champions – you guys are always going to have champions, don’t worry.”