Former UFC star fires back at Khabib Nurmagomedov following surprising rant about Irish MMA
01/03/2025 09:20 AM
Earlier this week, Khabib Nurmagomedov once again reignited his feud with Conor McGregor as he trashed the landscape of Irish MMA.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor engaged in one of the biggest feuds in combat sports history in 2018, which still echoes around the MMA world today.
Since retiring from competition, Nurmagomedov has turned his attention to coaching. Later this month, his cousin Usman Nurmagomedov will defend his Bellator lightweight title against Irishman Paul Hughes.
Darren Till fires back at Khabib Nurmagomedov following his comments
With that bout fast approaching, it has continuously been touted as Russia vs Ireland 2. And Khabib doesn’t agree with that notion, stating that Ireland ‘doesn’t have any fighters’.
Of course, Russia is one of the most dominant regions in MMA as it continues to breed champions, with ‘The Notorious’ McGregor being the only Irish champion of a major promotion.
Despite that, ‘Big News’ Hughes responded to Nurmagomedov’s claim that Ireland doesn’t have any fighters, saying: “You just wait and see.”
Hughes isn’t the only one who took issue with Khabib’s words, though, as former UFC star Darren Till has also backed up the state of Irish MMA, firing back at the Russian.
“I’ve always respected Khabib and his team a lot they are fantastic fighters. But for him to sit there and say fighters from Ireland are low level in comparison to of sizes of countries and production Ireland is actually way ahead,” Till explained in a tweet on X.
“Ireland is so f****** small and Russia is so f****** big. Ireland has produced amazing fighters over the years. I would have said just over the size and production of the country Ireland wins every time and this is not me being biased because I am neither friends with Khabib’s side nor Ireland’s side I’m just stating my opinion,” he continued.
Darren Till set for combat sports comeback
Since leaving the UFC in 2022, ‘The Gorilla’ has struggled to stay active in combat sports as he wanted to enter the world of influencer boxing to make some substantial money before potentially returning back to the UFC.
The former welterweight title challenger has only fought once since in an exhibition boxing fight and that was ended unceremoniously after he and Mohammad Mutie got into an altercation after the fight had ended.
Despite that, Till is set to make his Misfits Boxing debut on January 18 against former Bellator fighter, Anthony Taylor after Tommy Fury withdrew from his scheduled fight against Till.
