It’s been a fair few years since Khabib Nurmagmedov put the Conor McGregor feud in the ground but even now, in 2025, the memory of that fight with the Irishman seems to be haunting his own. According to a rather brave podcast host, Khabib’s legacy in combat sports should be credited to McGregor.
Nurmagomedov, who enjoyed a lengthy and dominant run as the lightweight champion (29-0), shared a bitter feud with the Irishman. But after choking McGrgeor out at UFC 229 in 2018, he went on to fight for two more years before retiring. Since then, he’s led his mentee 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.
In 2022, the UFC had also acknowledged his legacy in the sport by inducting him into the Hall of Fame. However, according to podcaster, Mohannad Azizah, if not for McGregor, Nurmagomedov’s legacy would not be solidified to this day like it is.
Sat 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 instilling his legacy with zealous fans. He also claimed – albeit, boldly, that if Nurmagomedov went to a decision with the Dubliner, they 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.”, he 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 watching Mendez prepared to call him out.
And call him out, he did.
According to Mendez, Azizah’s claims are more than baseless.
“You are playing devil’s advocate, but you’re wrong,” Mendez said. “Because 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.”.he said.
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It should be noted that Khabib’s social media following had skyrocketed after the Conor fight in 2018. This card, which sold 2.4 million PPVs, led to Khabib gaining over 3 million followers in the span of a day. So, to argue McGregor had little to do with his popularity or legacy would perhaps he a fallacy
Especially since neither fighter has let go of the anger they hold toward each other.
Nurmagomedov’s ongoing spat with McGregor
McGregor has, for years challenged the Dagestani for another trip to the Octagon. But Khabib had already called it a day just two years after their feud. In these two years, he was busy talking 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 by making disparaging comments about his father the day he died to calling his family, “inbred”, Conor has never let dignity get in way of an attempt to re-ignite the feud.
Earlier this year, after fellow Irishman Hughes explained that he had respect for Khabib and the Nurmagomedovs after his fight with Usman, Conor took to social media to unleash a series of tweets to question the Derry native’s Irish identity; a big NO within the community. He was rightfully criticized for it as well.
With all these spats in mind, it can be safely argued that McGregor, willingly or otherwise did contribute a lot to how big Khabib has become in MMA. Khabib or his team, of course have always put in the work and like would have continued to do so had Conor never thrown a chair at their bus. So Mendez is also within his rights to deny any such comparisons.
