There appears to be bad blood between
Khamzat
Chimaev and the
Khabib
Nurmagomedov camp.
Multiple videos posted online captured an altercation in the crowd
at UFC 280 between Chimaev, who was seated cageside, and
Abubakar
Nurmagomedov, who competed earlier on the card. The incident
occurred while newly-crowned lightweight champion
Islam
Makhachev was doing an in-cage interview following his victory
over
Charles
Oliveira in the main event. The two UFC fighters had to be
separated by security at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The origin of the scuffle is currently unclear, but according
RT Sport, Abubakar sent Chimaev a warning on social media in
2021 after Chimaev said he would “tear apart” Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Abubakar is the cousin of the former UFC lightweight champion.
Abubakar Nurmagomedov defeated
Gadzhi
Omargadzhiev via unanimous decision in a welterweight bout on
the UFC 280 preliminary card. Chimaev, one of the sport’s rising
stars, is coming off a first-round submission of
Kevin
Holland in a catchweight matchup at UFC 279 on Sept. 10.