UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has been suspended nine months and Conor McGregor six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for their roles in a UFC 229 brawl that occurred after Nurmagomedov’s victory over McGregor last fall.
Nurmagomedov, who earned $2 million for the lightweight title fight, is eligible to return to the cage July 6 but can knock three months off the suspension by participating in an anti-bullying public service announcement produced by UFC and the Las Vegas Metro Police Department and approved by the NSAC. McGregor’s suspension will end on April 6.
Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Zubaira Tukhugov, who went after McGregor in the brawl that left UFC President Dana White disgusted and McGregor asking for a rematch, were suspended one year and fined $25,000.
The bad blood between Nurmagomedov and McGregor extends at least as far back as April, when McGregor attacked a bus containing Nurmagomedov and several other fighters in a backstage area of Barclays Center in Brooklyn a few days before UFC 223. McGregor eventually pleaded no contest to a count of disorderly conduct after that incident and was sentenced to community service.
The run-up to their UFC 229 fight was peppered with ugly insults, including McGregor accusing Nurmagomedov’s manager of being a terrorist.
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