One of the most surprising things about UFC 229 was that it wasn't Conor McGregor's actions that defined the night. Khabib Nurmagomedov dominated the whole event in more ways than one. After defeating McGregor in the fourth round, with the Irishman tapping out from a chokehold, Khabib climbed over the side of the fence and leapt into the crowd. Soon after, a fight broke out between McGregor and three of Khabib's teammates inside the ring.
The chaos that ensued was confounding to fans of the sport, and it was pretty unclear who had started the fight or if any blows were successfully landed, but it wasn't that surprising given the build-up to the fight. McGregor, a champion of trash talk, had been mocking and insulting Khabib in public for weeks, as he usually does with his opponents.
According to Khabib, some of the insults targeted against his country, religion, and family proved too much - leading to pandemonium in Las Vegas that night.
Now, further footage of the incident has made its way online, which gives us a closer look at what happened between Khabib and Dillon Danis, McGregor's training partner and the target of the Russian fighter's attack. Looking at some videos online, it looks as if an argument was sparked up between Rizvan Magomedov, the president of Khabib's management agency, and Danis. Once Khabib saw the altercation, he saw red.
"This vid shows Khabib's Dominance MMA managing partner Rizvan Magomedov harassing Dillon Danis who pushes him away as Nurmagomedov notices the skirmish & jumps in to assist," Mike Russell tweeted. "Magomedov who can be seen in other videos scuffling with police trying to break up the brawl was arrested."
And here's another, closer look at Khabib's attack:
While in this video from further out, you can just make out Danis gesturing for Khabib to come out of the ring towards him:
So, it looks as if Magomedov taunted Danis, which started an altercation between the two of them. Khabib started shouting at them, and Danis gestured towards him - which proved too tempting for Khabib to ignore. Their fight was soon broken up by security on the scene before there were any serious injuries.
Magomedov is the President of Dominance MMA, an MMA Management Agency based in New York. The agency is known for representing top Dagestani fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Zabit Magomedsharipov. Khabib's manager, Ali Abdelaziz is also involved, being the co-founder of the agency.
Along with some others involved in the fighting that night, Rizvan was arrested for attacking Danis, but he was later released. The men who stormed the octagon to take on McGregor were also arrested, though the Irish fighter chose not to press any charges following the incident.
In the following weeks, Khabib promised he would leave the UFC if his teammates were banned, but UFC President Dana White has said that this was later settled. However, both McGregor and Khabib are facing temporary bans from the sport.
