Dana White has busted one of MMA’s biggest myths.
The UFC CEO insists that despite many people believing otherwise, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov were not friends before becoming bitter rivals.
McGregor posed with Khbaib after his first fight with Poirier in 2014
A picture of the two men posing together as young prospects frequently goes viral on social media, and fans use it as proof the pair were once pals as they made their names in the sport.
However, White insists that was never the case. The UFC boss believes they may have had mutual respect for one another at one point, but it certainly was never a friendship.
“Their rise was at the same time, White told former New England Patriots star Julian Edelman on the Games With Names podcast.
“The problem you are talking about when people say ‘they were boys’, they were never really boys it was like a mutual [respect], you are dealing with two hardcore f***ing alpha males.
“These guys are both killers. They both want to be the best. They both wanna win and they are both willing to fight anyone and do anything to be the best.
“So, when you get those two types of guys there’s no being buddies.
“Those two are on a collision course before they even knew they were.”
The pair exchanged friendly social media messages and even arranged to train together before things changed when McGregor began flirting with a move to lightweight in 2015.
White did everything he could to contain McGregor’s feud with NurmagomedovCredit: Getty Images – Getty
But it ended in a crazy post-fight brawl at UFC 229Credit: Getty
Meaner messages were exchanged until 2018 when things got physical.
Nurmagomedov and his team cornered McGregor’s former friend Artem Lobov, who is currently suing him after claiming he helped create Proper 12 Irish Whiskey, ahead of UFC 223 in April 2018.
Soon after, McGregor and his friends managed to sneak into the UFC 223 media day and laid siege to a bus carrying ‘The Eagle’ and other fighters.
‘Notorious’ infamously smashed the bus window with a dolly before being arrested and sentenced to community service for his violent outburst.
The two men were then booked to fight each other in October 2018.
After a bitter build-up and lots of out-of-line trash talk from McGregor, Nurmagomedov defended his lightweight belt with a fourth-round submission win at UFC 229 – but the beef didn’t end there.
The Russian superstar flew over the Octagon to attack another of McGregor’s teammates and started a wild multi-person brawl that led to the UFC fighters receiving fines and suspensions.
Nurmagomedov retired without giving McGregor a rematch in 2020.
Four years later, their feud still rages on and both men sporadically take shots at one another on social media even though it appears they will never fight again.