Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov may have walked away from their rivalry inside the Octagon years ago, but the animosity between the former lightweight champions continues to flare up whenever one of them goes public. This week, the feud roared back to life after McGregor’s unexpected return to social media sparked another round of insults, accusations, and a sharp rebuttal from Nurmagomedov himself.
McGregor had been largely absent online for months, telling fans earlier in 2025 that he would be taking a long break from social platforms while he focused on his health and a possible UFC comeback. That silence ended abruptly in recent days. The Irish star resurfaced with a string of emotional posts describing a period of trauma treatment and claiming the experience pushed him into a deeply personal shift in outlook. McGregor suggested he had undergone intense therapy and emerged feeling renewed, framing it as a spiritual reset that he believes has re-centered his life and reignited his competitive drive.
In typical McGregor fashion, however, the comeback didn’t stay reflective for long. Within days of returning, he turned his attention back to one of his longest-running targets: Nurmagomedov. The pair haven’t shared a cage since UFC 229 in October 2018, when Khabib submitted McGregor in the fourth round and the rivalry exploded into chaos afterward. Yet the hostility has never cooled, and McGregor’s latest posts showed he has no intention of letting it die quietly.
The spark this time was Nurmagomedov’s recent business promotion involving papakha hats — traditional Dagestani headwear — tied to a digital collectible campaign. McGregor mocked the project publicly and accused the retired champion of exploiting fans. From there, the Irishman escalated the attack into more personal territory, taking aim at Nurmagomedov’s legacy and his late father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who remains a revered figure in Dagestan and in Khabib’s career story.
For years, Nurmagomedov has mostly avoided direct back-and-forth with McGregor, choosing to let distance and retirement speak for him. But this time he fired back, visibly irritated by the accusations and the way McGregor framed the papakha idea. In a post on X, Nurmagomedov dismissed McGregor’s claims and defended the project as cultural rather than exploitative.
“You absolute liar. You will always try to darken my name, after you got destroyed that night, but you will never achieve that,” Khabib said in a post on X.
He expanded on the meaning behind the papakha, pushing back against the idea that it was just a gimmick or cash grab.
“Yes, good guys don’t do that. They don’t create exclusive digital gifts with real time value, that you can share with your friends and family.
“Gifts in the shape of Papakha – hat that symbolizes traditions and culture of Dagestan people. Traditions and culture that slowly walking over this world, whether you like it or not!” he continued.
The exchange instantly reminded MMA fans why this rivalry remains one of the most combustible in modern UFC history. The McGregor–Khabib feud was never only about titles. It carried national pride, religion, family, and personal identity into the cage, turning UFC 229 into a cultural flashpoint beyond sport. Even seven years later, neither man needs much of a push to re-enter that emotional space.
Adding fuel to the week’s drama was another incident involving their wider camps. At UFC 322 earlier this month at Madison Square Garden, a cageside brawl erupted despite McGregor not being present at the event. The clash was triggered by McGregor’s longtime teammate Dillon Danis, who has his own history of antagonizing Dagestani fighters online. Danis was caught exchanging punches with multiple members linked to the Nurmagomedov circle, including fighters associated with Islam Makhachev and the broader Dagestan-based team that emerged from Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s gym.
Security and UFC officials rushed to contain the melee, but video of the scuffle spread quickly. UFC boss Dana White was furious afterward, confirming Danis had been permanently banned from attending future UFC events. White also acknowledged he had been warned beforehand that Danis’ presence could cause trouble — a warning that proved accurate as tensions spilled into the crowd.
For many fans, the UFC 322 chaos felt like a distant echo of UFC 229, when the original McGregor–Khabib grudge culminated in a notorious post-fight riot involving Danis, Khabib, and multiple corners. That history makes every new flare-up feel less like a random outburst and more like another chapter in a rivalry that refuses to close.
The timing is also significant. McGregor is again teasing a potential return to competition, and speculation continues about him fighting on a high-profile UFC card rumored to be staged at or around the White House in 2026. Whether that event becomes reality or not, McGregor’s public posture suggests he wants the spotlight back — and stirring old rivalries is one of the fastest ways to grab it.
Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, remains steadfast in retirement. He has focused on coaching, promoting fighters from his region, and expanding business ventures in and beyond MMA. Yet the fact that he chose to respond directly this time shows that McGregor’s comments still hit a nerve, especially when they involve Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s name and Dagestani cultural symbols.
What happens next is unpredictable, as always with McGregor. He can pivot from personal revelation to trash talk within the same breath, and any new post could reopen the feud again. For Nurmagomedov, the message was clear: he won’t allow McGregor to define his reputation or diminish what the papakha represents to his people.
For now, the rivalry continues in the same place it has lived since 2018 — online, volatile, and one insult away from boiling over again.
