Khabib Nurmagomedov admitted he was "shaken up" by Conor McGregor 's infamous bus attack four years ago.
McGregor and Nurmagomedov have been long-term rivals inside and outside of the Octagon and hostilities came to a head when the former attacked his foe's bus in an unprovoked attack four years ago. McGregor was seeking a confrontation with Nurnagomedov prior to the UFC 233 event at the Barclays Center in New York and opted to throw a metal dolly at the vehicle, sending it smashing into the windows.
Glass shattered everywhere and caused injury to UFC stars Rose Namajunas and Michael Chiesa, who were also sat inside the bus. Reed Harris, the UFC's senior vice president of athlete development, recalled what Nurmagomedov told him while appearing backstage at the Russian's Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
"So, he [Nurmagomedov] comes up to me afterwards and he says, he's trying to be nice, 'I'm kind of shaken up'," Harris said during a video as part of the 'Anatomy of a Fighter' series by filmmaker Will Harris, called The Dagestan Chronicles. "He says, 'Reed, in Dagestan, I've been in many bus attacks. It's okay, you'll get used to it.'"
McGregor was arrested for the incident and later charged with one count of disorderly conduct before being sentenced to five days of community service. After the infamous confrontation, the pair went on to settle the scores at UFC 229 in the highest-selling pay-per-view in the promotion's history.
The pair threatened to get physical during the fight week build-up and exchanged a heated war of words for several weeks after the bus attack. McGregor ended up losing the fight against Nurmagomedov, being submitted by the Russian star, before yet another brawl broke out, with Nurmagomedov climbing the cage to charge at McGregor's team.
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McGregor was also involved in the confrontation inside the Octagon after being punched, which saw him serve a six-month suspension from the UFC. Nurmagomedov went on to remain undefeated in his UFC career and retire as lightweight champion. Meanwhile, fortunes have been different for McGregor, who has won just one of his three fights since the duel.
The Irishman is plotting a return to the UFC after breaking his leg in a second consecutive defeat by Dustin Poirier last year. It has been touted that McGregor should accept a tune-up fight before returning to face the toughest competition, with UFC legend Chael Sonnen suggesting he faces Chiesa, who was a victim of the bus attack.
"Michael Chiesa. That’s the one that has absolutely never been discussed by anybody," Sonnen told his YouTube channel. "But just to remind you guys, when the bus incident between Conor and the dolly and Khabib took place, there was lawsuits that followed that. And Chiesa was one of them. Chiesa got glass into his eye, it was very bad experience. I think that there’s a story there."
