Zubaira
Tukhugov recently shared an endearing instance of Khabib
Nurmagomedov looking out for him.
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Tukhugov and Abubakar
Nurmagomedov were the two Nurmagomedov Team members suspended
for jumping the cage and attacking Conor
McGregor during the infamous
UFC 229 brawl. The Nevada State Athletic Commission later
reduced their suspension by 35 days after reaching a community
service agreement.
However, the reduced sentence was no coincidence as it made them
eligible to compete at UFC
242 on Sep. 7, 2019. The
Ultimate Fighting Championship was keen on Nurmagomedov
defending his lightweight strap against Dustin
Poirier in the main event at UFC 242. Meanwhile, “Eagle”
refused to return to action until his teammates were cleared to
fight on the same bill.
Tukhugov further revealed that Nurmagomedov went to bat for him,
insisting on a spot for “Warrior” on the same card. When Dana White
instead offered Tukhugov a fight at UFC Moscow later that year, the
Dagestani claims Nurmagomedov was even ready to turn down the
Poirier matchup, which was his biggest payday at that point of his
career. Tukhugov soon received a call from UFC’s Hunter
Campbell, confirming a spot on the card where he went on to
fight Lerone
Murphy to a split draw.
“Nobody has ever revealed it: I got suspended, my contract was
terminated. Khabib said, ‘Zubaira will fight first and then I will
fight too.’ After the [Conor] McGregor fight, the UFC really needed
Khabib so they gave me a new contract,” Tukhugov recently told
Russian podcaster Aslanbek
Badaev. “They also promised to put me on the Abu Dhabi card
with Khabib and Islam. But Dana White said they had no room for me
on that card so they were going to let me fight in Moscow. He tried
to make Khabib change his mind but Khabib was like, ‘OK, I’m going
to rip this contract up now, I will give my spot on the card to
Zubaira if you don’t have it for him.’ It was his first really good
payday, I said, ‘Please don’t do that.’ And then Hunter called me
and said that he respected Khabib’s decision and decided to remove
a few to let me on the card. That’s how I managed to be part of the
event.”
Tukhugov has gone 2-2 since and most recently recorded a split
decision loss against Brazilian prospect Elves
Brener at
UFC 284 in February 2023.