Khabib Nurmagomedov says he does not have a “gram of regret” about sparking the melee which overshadowed his win against Conor McGregor in August.
The UFC Lightweight Champion was suspended for nine months and fined £380,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission last week, leading Nurmagomedov to firmly withdraw any previous apologies.
“I’ve had many situations in my life that I regret, you can’t turn back time,’ Nurmagomedov told Russian channel Match TV.
“But this is not on the list of things I regret. If the situation happened again 100 times, I would do the same thing 100 times.
“I don’t have a gram of regret about my actions. Some people liked it, some people didn’t. It makes no difference. I did what I wanted to do.”
Nurmagomedov also hit out at the perceived bias of his punishment from a state which allows “drugs, prostitution and gambling”, and claimed Nevada’s governing body should instead “work on its own behaviour.”
When McGregor hurled a trolley at a bus Nurmagomedov was on – which then became a major element of the build-up to the pair’s bout – the Irishman was only banned for six months and fined £25,000.
“From the organisation [UFC] I felt support for his side, there were a lot of moments when I turned a blind eye,” Nurmagomedov continued.
“I was fined exactly 10 times more than McGregor. I believe that this attitude isn’t only towards me, but also towards our country.
“Sport should be without politics. And in our fight, politics were very strongly felt. I hadn’t felt that before, but now I’ve begun to,” he added.
Nurmagomedov was offered the opportunity to reduce his suspension by three months, if he undertook an anti-bullying television appeal in Nevada, but the 30-year-old outright refused the suggestion.
Furthermore, once free to make his return to the octagon, Nurmagomedov has vowed he will never fight in Las Vegas again.
