Khabib
Nurmagomedov has spent time in the Octagon with both of the
main components of the
UFC 264 headliner, but the former lightweight champion had a
clear rooting interest on Saturday night.
The trilogy bout between Dustin
Poirier and Conor
McGregor ended abruptly when the Irish star suffered an injury
while throwing a punch in the waning seconds of Round 1. With
McGregor’s leg twisted at an awkward angle, the fight was waved off
before the second round, giving Poirier an anticlimactic technical
knockout victory. To add insult to injury, McGregor had to be taken
from the Octagon on a stretcher.
“Good always defeats evil,” Nurmagomedov wrote on Twitter. “Very
happy for [Dustin
Poirier]. I hope you will get your belt [by the] end of the
year.”
Nurmagomedov and McGregor have never been the best of friends. The
Dagestani thought that the SBG Ireland representative crossed the
line with his trash talk leading up to their UFC 229 bout, and
after Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor in their October 2018 bout, a
post-fight melee ensued between their respective teams.
Things were much more cordial between Nurmagomedov and Poirier
prior to their matchup at UFC 242, a fight which “The Eagle” also
won via tapout. Nurmagomedov retired last October after defeating
Justin
Gaethje in the UFC 254 main event, and Charles
Oliveira claimed the vacant 155-pound strap with a second-round
TKO of Michael
Chandler at UFC 262 on May 15. Poirier is now expected to face
Oliveira at a future UFC event.