"I never expected anything" - When Khabib Nurmagomedov took the high road in bitter feud after Khamzat Chimaev's threatening comments

In 2021, a bitter feud erupted between former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and rising star Khamzat Chimaev. The tension between the two fighters reached a boiling point after Chimaev made threatening comments towards Nurmagomedov during a live stream on Chechen politician Ramzan Kadyrov's Instagram.

Kadyrov had criticized the retired fighter for never competing under the Russian or Dagestan flag in the UFC. He claimed that Nurmagomedov was a "UFC project" and challenged him to fight in the Russian promotion Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA).

Chimaev, who was watching the live stream, took to the comments section to express his support for Kadyrov and issued a direct threat to Nurmagomedov, stating, "We'll tear him apart if he wants."

However, the lightweight GOAT initially chose to remain silent on the matter. However, in an interview with Russian media, he finally broke his silence and addressed the situation.

Nurmagomedov said:

"No. I wasn't. I've never met him, we've spoken on the phone. You're only disappointed in someone when you expect a certain type of response from them. I never expected anything from this person. It's his right, if he thinks what he said was necessary, let him write what he wants. Those questions are for him."

When asked if he would confront Chimaev, Nurmagomedov replied:

"Well, I think I won't. But when you get insulted by any person, it's not received well, you know. Doesn't matter if it's Khamzat or anyone else. If anyone speaks like that, they need to answer for it."

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Khamzat Chimaev opens up about his animosity with Khabib Nurmagomedov

In a recent interview, Khamzat Chimaev finally addressed his past animosity with Khabib Nurmagomedov. Speaking to Adam Zubayrave, Chimaev admitted that he was "immature" at the time and made mistakes:

"So it doesn’t feel good to be compared to anybody else. I just got triggered as someone said that Khabib would smash me, so I responded to that dude. Although I should have not done it. I said, ‘Ok, if Khabib wants to smash me, I am ready to smash him’ and they [media] just hyped that up."

Check out Khamzat Chimaev's comments on his beef with Khabib Nurmagomedov below: