Khabib Nurmagomedov has hinted that his UFC 229 win over Conor McGregor could’ve turned deadly if it wasn’t for referee Herb Dean.
On that night in Las Vegas, Khabib dominated McGregor in the main event and successfully retained his UFC lightweight title. The neck crank submission win for “The Eagle” came in the fourth round and while “The Notorious” looked strong in the third, the rest of the bout was almost completely controlled by Nurmagomedov from beginning to end.
Khabib meant business in Sin City
As Khabib cranked the neck of the Irishman and earned a tap out of Conor, referee Herb Dean stepped in and pulled the victor off of the beaten challenger. A brawl then ensued after Khabib opted to jump out of the octagon and onto Conor’s team, leaving a sour taste in the mouth of many fans.
As per Nurmagomedov in an interview with RT, however, things could’ve actually gone a lot worse if Dean wasn’t there to step in and save McGregor.
“You saw what happened. Remove Herb Dean and you yourself will understand whether I would have gone to the end or not,” Khabib explained.
“A person can die from such a [grip]. If I were to strangle you a little behind the scenes, you would understand what it is about.
“When a person strangles you and has been doing this for 30 years, this is a cold weapon. If there had been no referee, what could have happened?
“[Dean] removed my hands, he removed my grip. We understand everything, we understand what could have been.”
While Khabib may have retired from professional mixed martial arts, McGregor is coming off the back of consecutive losses to Dustin Poirier as he continues his rehabilitation from a leg break suffered at UFC 264 last month.
Featured image credit: Getty
