Khabib Nurmagomedov enjoyed beating up Conor McGregor so much he describes their UFC 229 fight as ‘a vacation.’
The Dagestani fighter had to put up with years of trash talk from “The Notorious” before they finally fought in 2018, and years of trash talk afterwards. That makes him something of an expert in how to handle endless harassment, and he explained his philosophy on the subject during a recent talk at the Miftaah Institute.
“Everybody is faced with trash talk every single day,” Nurmagomedov said. “With your neighbors, with your friends, your brother, your wife, everybody. But there’s a question: how can you deal with this? Don’t let these bad words go from your ear to inside and play with you. Don’t let this, okay? If you know yourself, it’s better. Ignoring people, it’s the most difficult thing.”
“Our prophet Muhammad, he teach us how to deal with our wives,” he said. “Don’t beat them. No. Ignore them … When something happened, first of all he waited several seconds. He ignored them.”
Nurmagomedov said he brought that attitude with him to UFC 229 when he knew he’d have to listen to Conor McGregor insult him all through fight week.
“I know when I go there this guy is going to talk trash,” Khabib said. “And I’m like, what do I have to do? I am a Muslim. Ignore him. Make him feel like woman.”
Nurmagomedov did most of his talking in the cage as he beat McGregor down en route to a fourth round submission win.
“One thing is very, very beautiful in this world,” he said. “When you don’t like somebody, you go inside the cage, you smash them, and they give you money. Outside of cage, you do this, you go to jail. I was waiting for this moment for so long and finally I cannot only fight, I can talk to him. I use this moment and I enjoyed it.”
“Like the way how you go to the Maldives and enjoy? Same thing. It was my vacation.”
One thing he enjoys less: talking about the post-fight brawl he started when he jumped out of the cage and attacked McGregor’s corner.
“It was a very emotional moment, and I don’t think it was a good example,” Nurmagomedov said. “But it happened. Sometimes we never know how we’re going to act if something happens. You can sit, watch, eating popcorn, and you can judge people: oh this guy’s bad, this guy’s not bad. But when you gonna be in this place in time, you never know how you’re going to act.”
“People ask me, do I regret? I was planning to go to the fight, in my mind it was like I’m going to war. But I never know what’s gonna happen, how it’s going to finish, nobody knows the future. It is what it is, it’s happening.”