Daniel Cormier, who had a bird’s eye view of the chaos at UFC 229, has given his thoughts on what transpired in Las Vegas between Khabib Nurmagomedov, his entourage, and Conor McGregor.
One man had a first-hand look at the commotion at UFC 229 on Saturday, and that was Daniel Cormier. The UFC two-division champ understands exactly what heated rivalries in sports are all about. After all, he’d been feuding with Jon Jones for years. Cormier is also a teammate of UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, the man whose impulsive actions at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday potentially put thousands of lives at risk. A near-riot broke out when Khabib, who submitted McGregor in the UFC’s biggest bout to date, hopped the fence, stormed into the crowd, and attempted to assault one of McGregor’s teammates.
It put a downer on an otherwise great night. Cormier was cageside, and credited with having a level head and calming the Dagestani-Russian champion down as the brawl he sparked continued. On Sunday, he posted his take on the incident, and as expected from D.C. it was a level-headed take.
“Hey guys, two wrongs don’t make it right. Conor didn’t deserve that. No one did,” Cormier wrote on Twitter. “But some things aren’t for fight promotion,” he continued. “Religion, family, country. Throwing stuff in Brooklyn. For Khabib it wasn’t fight promotion, it was really personal. Diff culture man. Sucks.”
While giving Nurmagomedov an out by bringing up McGregor’s own past indiscretions, Cormier seems aware that the champion should have taken the high road. He didn’t. As a result, his fight purse — a disclosed two million dollars — has been withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Nurmagoemdov will likely be looking at significant discipline from the commission over the incident.
Cormier’s full reaction can be found below.
Hey guys, two wrongs don’t make it right. Conor didn’t deserve that. No one did. But some things aren’t for fight promotion. Religion, family, country. Throwing stuff in Brooklyn. For Khabib it wasn’t fight promotion, it was really personal. Diff culture man. Sucks
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) October 7, 2018
Conor didn’t press charges , that tells me that he understands look I don’t like him he doesn’t like me shit happens. Kinda gangster shit by Conor. He showed lot of heart tonight! Crazy night. Wish we were talking bout the fight.
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) October 7, 2018
