There have been reports that Dagestani fighter Kabib Nurmagomedov has already agreed to a rematch with Conor McGregor after handing the Irish fighter his second UFC defeat with a fourth-round submission early Sunday morning. But while the fight will go down in infamy for the epic brawl that immediately followed, Kabib took a few moments to bask in his victory while speaking with reporters after the fight, even revealing that Russian President Vladimir Putin had already called to congratulate him and say that he was “proud of me.”
Here’s the Daily Beast with more:
Dagestani fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov says Russian leader Vladimir Putin personally called him after his victory over Conor McGregor on Saturday to tell him how proud he was. Nurmagomedov, who jumped out of the octagon after the match and sparked mass brawls that led to arrests, was mostly unapologetic for the chaos he caused. “They call [McGregor] two-weight world champion, but today he tapped,” he told reporters after the fight in Las Vegas, saying the Irish fighter had disrespected the sport with his “trash talking” about Nurmagomedov’s religion and family ahead of the fight. “Of course, this is not what my father taught me, but it was a matter of honor,” he wrote on Instagram. He also said that while “all the press” was busy talking about McGregor’s photo with Putin at the FIFA World Cup over the summer, “the president just called me. He congratulated me and said he’s proud of me.” The Kremlin has yet to officially comment on Nurmagomedov’s win.
Putin had famously taken a photo with McGregor at this summer’s World Cup, something that incited a degree of controversy.
Putin wasn’t the only Russian leader to relish in Kabib’s victory. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov praised him, saying that McGregor learned the hard way that Nurmagomedov is “a genius artist, capable of turning his face into a painting drawn in red oil paint.”
Aside from his victory over McGregor, Saturday night’s fight will go down in infamy after Kabib climbed out of the Octagon and brawled with members of McGregor’s entourage.
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