The long-standing rivalry between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov has reignited over a controversial digital collectibles auction that raised $4.5 million on Telegram with McGregor accusing his former opponent of exploiting his late father’s memory to scam fans.
The dispute erupted on Tuesday when McGregor noticed that promotional posts for Nurmagomedov’s recently concluded NFT auction had been scrubbed from the retired champion’s Twitter account. The Irish MMA star didn’t hold back in his criticism.
“What a shame and a stain on his father’s name. Just wow! To scam fans using his father and his countries culture is just so low. Father’s plan has now become Father’s scam. Very sad.”
McGregor continued his assault in a follow-up post expressing disbelief at the situation:
“There is just no way good guy khabib used his late fathers name, as well as Dagestan’s culture, to scam his fans and fire sell a bunch of digital NFT’s online and then delete all of the content after they were sold, leaving his fans robbed of their money?”
The auction in question ran for 25 hours from November 22 to 23 featuring approximately 29,000 digital papakhas which are the traditional Dagestani fur hats that have become synonymous with Nurmagomedov’s image. According to reports the collectibles sold for an average price of 10,100 Telegram stars each generating over 347 million rubles.
The promotional campaign had included an emotional video featuring Nurmagomedov reflecting on his father’s legacy.
“You see? You understand? My father passed this down to me. Now I pass it to them. Even online, we can share what matters. Telegram Digital Collectibles. Pass it on,”
the former UFC lightweight champion stated in the advertisement.
Nurmagomedov fired back at McGregor’s accusations with a strongly worded response on Twitter defending both the project and his integrity.
“You absolute liar. You will always try to darken my name after you got destroyed that night but you will never achieve that! Yes, good guys don’t do that. They don’t create exclusive digital gifts with real time value that you can share with your friends and family.”
The Dagestani continued:
“Gifts in the shape of Papakha – hat that symbolize traditions and culture of Dagestan people. Traditions and culture that slowly walking over this world whether you like it or not! Gifts that you can find exclusively on Telegram greatest messaging platform on the world.”
Shortly after his response to McGregor Nurmagomedov reposted the papakha promotion to Instagram with limited comments writing:
“The auction has ended and all Papakha’s been sold! Appreciate everyone who participated in it and become a holder of this great and exclusive digital gift gift with value that you can share with your friends and loved ones. Thank you for trust! Only on Telegram.”
The auction organized in partnership with Telegram founder Pavel Durov has generated significant controversy beyond just McGregor’s criticism. Social media users worldwide expressed disappointment that someone of Nurmagomedov’s stature and wealth would commercialize his father’s memory through digital collectibles particularly given his previous involvement in cryptocurrency and NFT endorsements.
The project represents Telegram’s expansion into the digital goods marketplace following a successful pilot program on November 15 that generated approximately $4.4 million from selling 1,000 copies of a Telegram Plane sticker pack.
The collaboration between Nurmagomedov and Durov extends beyond business. The two recently discussed training together on social media and Durov attended UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi in October where he met with the retired champion.
