Khabib Nurmagomedov has recently criticized Colby Covington for calling the cops on Jorge Masvidal, after Masvidal sucker-punched Colby inside of a steak house.
Colby called the police and proceeded to pressed charges against Masvidal, which led to Masvidal being arrested on battery charges, and released on bail on the same day. As per Nurmagomedov, it is fair play to engage a man who had slandered your family in real life as long as he’s not vastly bigger than you. In an open letter calling for the boycott of Covington, Nurmagomedov writes:
“If you are stronger than someone inside the octagon, it does not mean that you can insult his children. No one has the right to insult someone’s family. Once you have gone down this path, then be ready to back up your words. You were attacked by a professional fighter, the same as you are, your own size, and you go press charges against him to the police? I think all welterweights should refuse to fight Colby , just don’t accept fights with him, let him sit without a fight, it will probably significantly affect him and all fighters who even think of insulting families, who is provoking the fighters to look for someone in restaurants to deal with him. ”
The letter was tagged family first in addition to UFC.
Khabib Nurmagomedov has been involved in a lot of altercations in his young life. But most of them transpired in Dagestan, where the rules of engagement are very very different than Miami, Florida.
Nurmagomedov even had several run ins during the peak of his MMA career. Most notably, he instigated an all out brawl because submitting Conor McGregor felt anti climactic after all that ill will.
While Colby Covington is nobody’s favorite fighter it’s undoubtedly true that he hasn’t committed a crime. He consciously plays into this lowest of low MMA personality complete with a rented entourage. But Covington also took things to unspeakable levels with racist rants aimed at Demian Maia and Rafael Dos Anjos. Where were these family values type outrages then? In fact UFC was on the verge of cutting Covington before he started expressing these ‘lowest of low’ type attitudes every chance he got. He doesn’t mind wearing the villain hat, he’s aware that that kind of behavior is his meal ticket.
In another corner of the world the rules are set by Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov is a ruler of Chechnya and a huge patron of mixed martial arts. But he’s also someone who is suspected of orchestrating the kidnapping, torture and death of several individuals in Chechnya. While Kadyrov publicly denies these accusations there’s a track record to speak of. And it doesn’t bother most of UFC stars one bit.
In 2018 Khabib Nurmagomedov met with Ramzan Kadyrov and attended a dinner in his honor. Khabib was made an honorary citizen of Chechnya and was gifted a brand new Mercedes by the dictator.
*Nurmagomedov has since had a falling out with Kadyrov, thanks to him getting closer to another UFC star - Khamzat Chimaev.
So sure, let’s all associate with alleged murderers while we condemn someone who had hung onto his career by feeding into an angry mob and talking trash. Because that’s what family values dictate.