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UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedev fired back at Conor McGregor this week after his former opponent accused him of pulling out of the heavily anticipated UFC 249 match against Tony Ferguson.
Nurmagomedev posted a lengthy caption to his Instagram on Wednesday where he appeared to announce plans to withdraw from the April 18 fight.
TONY FERGUSON SAYS UFC CHAMP KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV SHOULD BE ‘STRIPPED OF HIS TITLE’
“Staying home in quarantine and reading the reaction of people to the situation around my fight, it turns out that the whole world should be in quarantine,” the caption read.
“Governments of all countries, famous people around the world urge people to follow all safety requirements in order to limit the spread of the disease, to save people, and (I am) the only one relieved of all obligations and must demonstrate free will and train flying around the world, for the sake of fight? I understand everything, and I’m definitely upset more than you to cancel the fight, probably like all others, I had many plans after the fight, but I can’t control it all.”
McGregor chimed in on Twitter saying if it was him who had an official fight booked, he would have competed regardless.
“I am in shape to fight right now! At the beginning of all this, I said to myself - I’m happy I don’t have an official fight booked. If I did, I would have consumed all the incorrect data to support me taking part in the bout, and I would have followed through, competed. And won.”
McGregor added in a separate tweet that it’s no surprise that the fight isn’t happening considering it would be the fifth time two fighters had failed to face off.
“The fact of this matter is, both Tony and Khabib where engaged in a game of chicken here towards the fight bell. With Khabib chickening out first. Making it 3-2 in pullouts in Tony’s favour. Khab scurried out of the U.S to home, and amid the crisis. Very high risk. Congrats Tony.”
KHABIB SAYS HE WON’T BREAK QUARANTINE, UFC 249 FIGHT IS OFF
But Nurmagomedev wasted no time defending himself, telling ESPN on Thursday he hasn’t officially withdrawn from anything because they don’t even have a location picked out.
“Right now, if they give me location I can come out of Russia and go into any countries. U.S, Abu Dhabi, doesn’t matter I’m going to fight 100%. Just send me location,” he said. “Everyday I send Dana White a message saying, ‘Hey, where’s my location?’ This is not my mistake. There’s too much crazy stuff, too many questions, I don’t have an answer.”
Nurmagomedev also addressed McGregor’s comments, reminding his former opponent of their last fight.
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“What happened on Oct. 6, Oct. 6, 2018? When we had six months training camp before the fight, you do everything that you can, and you come inside the cage, you talk lot of bad things before the fight, six months you train very hard and you come inside the cage and you tap like chicken,” he said.
UFC president Dana White has yet to pull the plug on the fight despite canceling other events in the hopes that he will find a location.
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