Khabib Nurmagomedov to UFC: If you cut my teammate, ‘you’ll lose me too’

When the UFC gets around to handing out punishments for the chaotic brawl that closed out the show at T-Mobile Arena this past weekend, it may have to heed the words of its lightweight champion.

Khabib Nurmagomedov laid down an ultimatum to officials on Thursday, threatening to leave the promotion should any of his teammates who were involved in the UFC 229 post-main event incident be released for their involvement.

Following his successful title defense against rival Conor McGregor on Saturday, Nurmagomedov leapt over the Octagon fence and jumped into the crowd to confront McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis. The Bellator fighter had allegedly called Nurmagomedov “a f*cking Muslim rat” at some point during the bout, though Danis has since denied these allegations.

Regardless, the situation escalated when Nurmagomedov’s teammates became involved in a physical altercation with McGregor that saw punches thrown on both sides inside the cage. Though the names involved are still being officially confirmed, one person that has been prominently connected to the melee is UFC featherweight Zubaira Tukhugov.

Nurmagomedov specifically mentions Tukhugov in his Instagram post, challenging UFC president Dana White to follow up on his threat to release any fighters that were involved in the UFC 229 brawl.

“If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too,” Nurmagomedov wrote, referring to Tukhugov. “We never give up on our brothers in Russia and I will go to the end for my brother. If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I’ll break it myself.”

Tukhugov was scheduled to fight McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov at UFC Moncton on Oct. 27, but that bout is presumably in jeopardy should Tukhugov be sanctioned by officials.

Nurmagomedov also questioned the UFC’s handling of this situation compared to the incident in Brooklyn this past April that saw McGregor and cohorts invade the Barclays Center and proceed to go on a rampage that resulted in McGregor throwing a dolly that shattered the window of a bus carrying several UFC fighters, leading to injuries to Ray Borg and Michael Chiesa.

See Nurmagomedov’s full statement below:

“I would like to address (the UFC). Why didn’t you fire anyone when their team attacked the bus and injured a couple of people? They could have killed someone there, why no one says anything about insulting my homeland, religion, nation, family?

“Why do you have to punish my team, when both teams fought. If you say that I started it, then I do not agree, I finished what he had started.

“In any case, punish me, (Zubaira Tukhugov) has nothing to do with that. If you think that I’ll keep silent then you are mistaken. You canceled Zubaira’s fight and you want to dismiss him just because he hit Conor. But don’t forget that it was Conor who had hit another brother first, just check the video.

“If you decide to fire him, you should know that you’ll lose me too. We never give up on our brothers in Russia and I will go to the end for my brother. If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I’ll break it myself.

“And one more thing, you can keep my money that you are withholding. You are pretty busy with that, I hope it won’t get stuck in your throat. We have defended our honor and this is the most important thing. We intend to go to the end.”