A teammate of Khabib Nurmagomedov has posted a video on social media bragging about blindsiding Conor McGregor in the Octagon after Saturday night's fight.
Zubaira Tukhugov, a Chechen-Russian UFC fighter, has claimed in a video uploaded to social media that he was the one who repeatedly punched McGregor moments after he lost to teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov in Last Vegas Saturday night.
Footage that emerged shortly after the bout at the T-Mobile Arena showed Nurmagomedov jumping into the crowd to attack McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis who had reportedly been taunting him from outside the cage.
צילום מתוך האולם של הקרב. וגם של הסיום של חביב-מקגרגור pic.twitter.com/7DtRWJK79m
— Ram Gilboa (@RamGilboa) October 7, 2018
As security attempted to diffuse the melee outside the octagon, McGregor was pounced on by a number of Khabib’s teammates inside the cage, with one individual sucker punching the Crumlin man from behind.
Since then, there has been debate as to whether or not McGregor threw the first punch in the incident, but with the help of video footage from fans in the crowd, many have been able to publicly identify the cheap shot culprit as Tukhugov.
Tukhugov has all but confirmed this by recording himself boasting about slapping McGregor, and the video has been doing the rounds on social media this morning.
The video was shared by MMA journalist Karim Zidan.
UFC fighter Zubaira Tukhugov is bragging on social media about attacking Conor McGregor at #UFC229: “I slapped him as promised. I promised to make him answer for his words and I did." pic.twitter.com/Iy2QYlUmEt
— Karim Zidan (@ZidanSports) October 7, 2018
In it, Tukhugov says: “I slapped him as promised. I promised to make him answer for his words and I did.
“Everyone who thinks I missed, show me where,” he added.
“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.”
Three of Nurmagomedov’s team had been arrested after the attack and were taken to jail.
However, they were released when McGregor said he was not going to press charges.
Tukhugov was due to fight McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov later this month but that fight is unlikely to go ahead now following his antics on Saturday night.
Nurmagomedov's purse will be withheld pending an investigation by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Nurmagomedov may also face criminal charges for his role in the brawl, potentially complicating any US visa applications he makes in the future.
Meanwhile, McGregor took to social media a few hours after the fight to declare his intent on facing Nurmagomedov again in a rematch.
Good knock. Looking forward to the rematch.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 7, 2018
