On Saturday night, in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., Khabib Nurmagomedov did what he said he would do: he dominated Conor McGregor submitting the former two-weight world champion at UFC 229 to retain his UFC lightweight title. Had the night ended there, that still would have been the biggest news of the weekend, but instead, following his victory, Nurmagomedov did something MMA fans will be talking about for years to come.

Though heading into the fight, Nurmagomedov showed little sign that McGregor’s trademark trash talk was getting to him, after tapping McGregor in the fourth round, “The Eagle” flew into a rage, hopping over the cage and jumping at McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis. A brawl ensued with McGregor attempting to jump the fence after Nurmagomedov and then members of Nurmagomedov’s entourage storming the cage and taking cheap shots at McGregor. In the biggest fight in UFC history, with the whole world watching, MMA once again, showed its ass.

But in the immediate aftermath of the brawl, the MMA community was fairly split with their reactions. Many felt that the incident disgraced the sport and marred the entire event while others suggested that Nurmagomedov jumping the fence was justified given the personal attacks McGregor had lobbied at him before the fight. But perhaps the most common sentiment among fighters is summed up best by former UFC light heavyweight champion, Chuck Liddell in a series of Instagram posts: that the outcome was bad and that both fighters are to blame, as is the UFC for stoking the fires that led to a melee like this one.

“Incredible performance by both fighters, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. But to end it like they did was a huge embarrassment to the sport. We (fighters)are sportsmen and champions and we should hold ourselves to a higher standard. We owe it to our fans and the sport itself. I don’t know when things started turning into some kind of sh*t show?!!! Unfortunately, when you allow more and more B.S. during weigh ins and outside of fights; You only slap fighters on the wrist for acting like barbarians and then offer them bigger contracts and reward them for this behavior. There is no penalty for their actions and it condones this type of behavior and consequently our sport loses its sacred respect.

“Both sides were in the wrong here! However, this is what you should expect when you start to reward fighters for this kind of behavior and when you use a video of a bus attack to promote a fight. Oh and btw look who threw the first punch inside the ring before “he got jumped unprovoked” This UFC is not what we old timers built with our blood and sweat! It’s unacceptable!

Like Nurmagomedov, during his heyday, Liddell had a reputation as a stoic and unflappable badass and, also like Nurmagomedov, he found himself rivals with the biggest star in the UFC who happened to be brash and outspoken, and who he happened to soundly defeat when they finally fought each other after years of anticipation. However, after knocking out Tito Ortiz, Liddell didn’t hop the fence and start swinging on the rest of Team Punishment.

Liddell went on to say that when he returns to the cage later this year for a third fight with his own version of Conor McGregor, he intends to remind the MMA world that fighting, even in a grudge match, is about respect and sportsmanship.

“First week of training camp down and 7 weeks to go. I can’t wait to fight November 24th coming back to the sport I love to show everyone what this sport is all about.”

Chuck Liddell faces Tito Ortiz on Nov. 24 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. for Golden Boy Promotion’s first MMA event.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Brawl. Khabib Nurmagomedov beats Conor McGregor, sparks post-fight melee.

Reaction. Dana White reacts to UFC 229 melee: ‘I’m disgusted and sick over it’.

Fuss. Khabib Nurmagomedov apologizes after UFC 229 brawl, doesn’t ‘understand’ fuss.

Strip? Dana White: ‘It’s not 100 percent certain’ Khabib Nurmagomedov will keep his belt.

Cucuy. Tony Ferguson calls Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor ‘two knuckleheads’.

Aggressive. Derrick Lewis explains why he took off his shorts after UFC 229 victory.

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VIDEO STEW

Post Show.

The original post-fight brawl.

Tyron is very smart.

Paul Pierce out here voicing the opinion of many, that the brawl was awesome. He also buries Conor.

Big Drama Show.

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LISTEN UP

Severe MMA. Discussing UFC 229 and the wild aftermath.

6th Round. Immediate post-fight reaction to UFC 229 and The Brawl.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

REMATCH.

The GOAT has spoken.

Harsh but fair.

Max.

DC knows Conor deserves that respect.

The reactions from Dagestan.

Boss Logic was ready.

Ragin’ Al vs. Conor.

Khabib continuing his legacy of talking s**t while beating ass.

Look at this custom Tux from Buffer.

The case for using proper punctuation.

This is how you capitalize.

Also a good way to capitalize.

Wow.

There’s a very real chance that Khabib is the hardest man to ever set foot in the octagon.

Belal is on the money.

Chris Pratt, reader of MMAFighting.

And they all weigh roughly the same. Round robin tournament, please.

INCREDIBLE.

Superfighter.

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2011: Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard ended their epic rivalry with Edgar overcoming a first-round beating to come back and knock out Maynard in the fourth round, retaining his lightweight title. In the co-main event, Jose Aldo took a unanimous decision over Kenny Florian to retain his featherweight title.

2016: Michael Bisping got his revenge, defending his middleweight title with a unanimous decision in his rematch with Dan Henderson at UFC 204.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

So. Quiet weekend, huh? My take on all of this is that Khabib is now the biggest villain in the UFC and the rematch with Conor is gonna sell 4M PPVs. That being said, it appears Khabib was correct the whole time: this fight was fairly easy for him. Herb Dean could have stopped the fight in the second round, and in the end, Khabib tapped him. Now no one can deny Khabib is the legitimate lightweight champion.

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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