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Conor McGregor vs Khabib: UFC staged bus attack claims Nurmagomedov

The Irishman infamously attacked the Russian's bus back in April and sparked a controversial build-up to their clash at UFC 229

Ben Burrows
Tuesday 16 October 2018 09:16 BST
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Conor McGregor appears to attack a coach carrying UFC fighters at the Barclays Centre in New York

Khabib Nurmagomedov believes the UFC staged Conor McGregor's attack on his bus that eventually led to the pair meeting in Las Vegas a week ago.

The Irishman infamously attacked the Russian's bus back in April, an incident that landed him in court in New York, and sparked a controversial build-up to the clash at UFC 229.

Khabib triumphed with a fourth-round submission of The Notorious to retain his UFC lightweight title before causing a melee in the arena after vaulting the cage and attacking a member of McGregor's entourage.

But Khabib has a "lot of questions" about how the incident which began everything came about.

“Let me tell you how that all played out. I had a team of about 20 men. We had a bus just like that, hired (for us) to go to the gym, press conferences all the media activities and so on," he told RT.

“But you know what’s interesting – on that day the UFC told me that on that media day I had to arrive alone. So I was travelling with all the other fighters who would fight from the red corner. I was in the red corner as well as a favourite. With me there was only one person (from my team) and my manager.

“And if you watch the footage, you can see that the bus almost gets to the gate, and then suddenly it stops and pull back. Why? If you see that some people are attacking the bus, then you should keep moving and get outside (from the parking lot). But then you stop and pull back. Why? For me there are a lot of questions. I don’t know whether the UFC made it all on purpose or not.

“But they started to attack (the bus), break (windows). It was a crowd of around 20 men. Inside (the bus) we had three security guards. And as you can see (in the video), there were security guards outside as well, trying to stop Conor. In my opinion, I give 70 percent that it was a set-up.

“I wanted to get outside, and all the fighters who were in the bus, already confirmed it in their interviews, as well as all the managers. It all happened in about one or two minutes. I don’t know, but this incident leaves a lot of questions for me."

Meanwhile Floyd Mayweather has responded to Khabib's challenge to fight him - and it appears he's interested.

McGregor threw a sack trolley at the bus of Khabib at the UFC 223 media day

“Let’s go Floyd,” Khabib said previously. “We have to fight now, 51-0 vs 27-0, two guys who have never lost. Because in the jungle there is only one king. Of course I am the king because he cannot drop McGregor but I dropped him easily.”

Mayweather appeared to accept the challenge, as he posted a message on Instagram calling for a number of companies to book the fight between the two unbeaten fighters.

“CBS, Showtime and MGM Grand get the checkbook out!” Mayweather wrote. “Go to @leonardellerbe ‘s page to view Khabib Nurmagomedov challenging me.

“LET’S MAKE LAS VEGAS GREAT AGAIN!”

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