The UFC has a major public relations problem following the post-fight melee immediately after the close of the UFC 229 main event, a successful title defense by lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champ champ Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov vaulted the Octagon and leaped onto a McGregor camp member. McGregor leaped onto the fence and took a swing at a Nurmagomedov camp member. Then multiple Nurmagomedov champ members took shots at McGregor.
UFC president Dana White said any members of Nurmagomedov’s camp involved in taking shots at McGregor would never fight in the UFC again. Zubaira Tukhugov was reportedly one of them, and he was pulled from a fight with McGregor camp member Artem Lobov at UFC Fight Night 138 on October 27. Perhaps the move was simply a wise precaution, to keep the camps apart. However, there is widespread concern that Tukhugov will be released by the UFC.
Nurmagomedov isn’t having it, saying he will give up his belt and his purse if the UFC takes that step. He very coherently cites precedent. Lobov was part of McGregor’s drew that attacked a bus, injuring two fighters to the point the couldn’t fight, injuring a senior UFC staffer, and leaving UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas so shaken she is still suffering major effects. McGregor’s sanction from the UFC was exactly nuttin’. Lobov was pulled from a fight, but there is he with a fight.
So if Tukhugov is being pulled from a fight, that’s the precedent. If he is being released, that a big problem. There is a Save Tukhugov movement, but in a recent message on his social network, Brave Combat Federation founder, His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, suggested it isn’t Tukhugov that needs saving.
“Zubair does not need to be saved, he is a champ and well known and with much respect, what I really think is that UFC needs a lot of help for that poor decision to be saved,” said His Highness. “Anyways BRAVE CF will always welcome a guy like u my brother Zubaira Tukhugov, keep ur head up and let them regret it.”
Brave Combat Federation features multiple athletes from Dagestan, Russia and has worked closely with veteran coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, father of Nurmagomedov. The UFC has not done a show in the Middle East since UFC 112 in 2010, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The debacle would appear to have shut doors for the largest MMA promotion in the world to the Middle Eastern market.
H/T Hari Bhagirath, Chief Creative Officer. KHK MMA Bahrain
