It’s been a fair few years since Khabib Nurmagomedov put the Conor McGregor feud to the ground. But even in 2025, when the memory of that 2018 fight resurfaces, it invokes strong emotions in those who were involved in it. Especially those from Team Khabib.
The latest mention of the bout came from a podcast host, who stated that Khabib’s legacy in combat sports should be credited to McGregor. The Dagestani, who enjoyed a lengthy and dominant run as the lightweight champion (29-0), had a bitter feud with the Irishman. And, after choking McGregor out at UFC 229, he went on to fight for two more years before retiring undefeated.
Since then, Khabib has mentored Islam Makhachev to an almost mythical title reign. In early 2025, he had also cornered cousin Usman to a close win over Irish sensation Paul Hughes at Bellator. In 2022, the UFC also acknowledged Khabib’s legacy by inducting him into the Hall of Fame.
However, according to podcaster Mohannad Azizah, if not for McGregor, Nurmagomedov’s legacy would not have risen to the stature it is now. Sitting opposite Nurmagomedov’s head coach, Javier Mendez, Azizah laid out his argument.
As far as he’s concerned, the Russian’s dominant finish of McGregor goes a long way toward cementing his legacy among zealous fans. He also claimed boldly that if Nurmagomedov had ended up with a decision victory over the Dubliner, the fans would have turned on him.
“One of the reasons that Khabib became big is because he actually finished him. If it went to a decision, people would have been upset that he stole their superstar away from them over a decision,” Azizah said.
“It’s show business at the end of the day and fans want to see something. That’s why, for example, I really respect whatever Islam [Makhachev] and what Khabib done in the last few fights,” he added, even as Mendez prepared to call him out.
And call him out, he did. Mendez branded Azizah’s claims as baseless.
“You are playing devil’s advocate, but you’re wrong,” Mendez said. “Because [of] the fans. The fans appreciate who they appreciate. They don’t like [Magomed] Ankalaev as much as they should. Because he hadn’t fought right. It isn’t that he doesn’t have finishes — enough finishes.”
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Then again, Khabib’s social media following had skyrocketed after the Conor fight. The card, which sold 2.4 million PPVs, led to Khabib gaining over 3 million followers in the span of a day.
So, McGregor did have something to do with Khabib gaining popularity. More than six years on, they have not let go of their anger toward each other either.
Khabib’s ongoing spat with Conor
For years, McGregor has challenged the Dagestani for another joust in the octagon. But Khabib called it a day just two years after their feud. In his active years after the McGregor bout, he was busy taking on active world-class athletes like Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, among others.
So it never made sense for him to revisit the Conor feud, more so because he had such a comfortable win the first time around.
He retired in 2020 and that was supposed to be it. However, McGregor doesn’t seem to have let that stop him. From questioning Khabib’s faith, and making disparaging comments about his father the day he died, to calling his family ‘inbred’, Conor has been far from dignified while attempting to re-ignite the feud.
Earlier this year, Irishman Hughes explained that he had respect for Khabib and the Nurmagomedovs after his fight with Usman. Conor immediately took to social media to unleash a series of tweets to question Hughes’ Irish identity. McGregor was rightly criticized for the tweets.
With all these spats in mind, and considering how they have captured the imagination of the fans, it can be argued that McGregor, willingly or otherwise, did contribute a lot to how big Khabib has become in MMA.
Khabib and his team, of course, have always put in the work. They would have done so had Conor never thrown a chair at their bus. So Mendez is also not wrong in denying McGregor as the sole reason for the growth in Khabib’s stature.
