UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier learned first-hand that tensions between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor will likely never cool off.
McGregor and Nurmagomedov topped the most lucrative UFC pay-per-view ever at UFC 229. Their months of pre-fight bad blood boiled over inside, and outside, of the Octagon.
After Nurmagomedov’s retirement in 2020, things remain hostile between the two sides. McGregor has repeatedly taken personal shots against Nurmagomedov and members of his inner circle during the Irish star’s ongoing UFC hiatus.
In 2021, as McGregor prepared to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 257, Cormier intensely irked Nurmagomedov after an innocuous conversation with McGregor.
Daniel Cormier reveals the one time Khabib Nurmagomedov was furious with him
In a recent upload to his YouTube channel, Cormier told a story of when Nurmagomedov was furious at him for shaking McGregor’s hand.
“We as Americans, as a culture, we don’t abide by those same rules all the time,” Cormier said. “We don’t abide by…if you’re in such a great conflict with someone, as my friend, we as Americans may not see the need to kind of fall in line and feel or operate in the same way. Conor McGregor, who I met back in the day. He was at a couple of fights, and we’ve always been cordial with each other. I don’t really know Conor very well, Khabib and Conor were cordial in the beginning also. But it became so nasty that there was that massive build to the fight, the way the fight ended, everything…
“I saw Conor McGregor in Abu Dhabi, maybe when he was fighting Dustin Poirier. We were shaking hands, talking a little bit, and very kind of chumy. And Khabib was like ‘Brother, I don’t understand this! If I see Conor with his wife, I’ll shake his hand, because that’s what you’re supposed to do. But brother…’. And I initially kind of fought it, but look at the stance he’s taken in regards to everyone you deal with, why wouldn’t you take that same stance?”
Nurmagomedov retired just months earlier at UFC 254; a win over Justin Gaethje in his Octagon finale. He entered the UFC Hall of Fame alongside Cormier in 2022.
McGregor was supposed to face Michael Chandler in his UFC return in June before withdrawing due to injury. As of this writing, a timeline for his planned fighting comeback remains foggy.