Fresh video footage has emerged which sheds new light on the circumstances around the post-fight brawl which overshadowed Khabib Nurmagomedov’s victory over Conor McGregor at UFC 229.
Nurmagomedov defended his lightweight crown in completely dominant fashion in Las Vegas over the weekend, taking McGregor to the ground in the first two rounds before forcing him to tap in the fourth.
And yet it was for the shocking post-fight scenes that the night will live long in the memory.
New footage has now emerged of the fight after the fight which appears to suggest that it was the president of Nurmagomedov’s management agency sparked that ultimately sparked the riot.
Rizvan Magomedov is seen taunting Conor McGregor’s training partner, Dillon Danis, in the seconds immediately after the fight.
He slaps Danis on the back several times and is seen saying something to him, before Nurmagomedov spots the altercation and vaults over the Octagon before flying towards Danis feet first.
Further footage then shows Magomedov throwing punches at Danis, before police officers intervene and drag the pair away.
Fellow UFC fighter Brian Ortega later revealed that Danis spent the rest of his evening in a nightclub.
“He came up to me and he was like ‘hey man,'” Ortega told TMZ of the moment when Danis approached him in a bar, in the hours immediately after the fight.
“At first I was like damn, what are you doing here — especially alone. I was like ‘this guy’s a savage right now’.
“He had a hood on, trying to be low key, but he came up to me, he was respectful, he was like ‘hey man, you’re holding it down for the jiu jitsu community, you’re doing your thing, I admire you, I appreciate it.’ He was cool about the whole situation.”
