Khabib Nurmagomedov was on top of the world amid his UFC lightweight title reign.

As his dominant undefeated record continued to grow, Nurmagomedov’s inevitable time atop the 155-pound division came once his injury woes were behind him in 2016. Even upon his return that year post-ACL tear, Nurmagomedov didn’t fight for gold until April 2018 after wins over Darrell Horcher, Michael Johnson, and Edson Barboza. Yeah, that first one is so weird in hindsight, but if you remember, that was one of the five times “The Eagle” was matched against Tony Ferguson. Pain, I know.

Regardless, Nurmagomedov won the title with a dominant short-notice unanimous decision over Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 — another one of those originally expected Ferguson pairings. After that, the biggest fight in UFC history took place when Nurmagomedov welcomed back the former champion Conor McGregor in his first title defense and all hell broke loose at UFC 229. After the fourth-round neck crank win for the champion, Nurmagomedov infamously started a brawl between the teams when he jumped into the crowd and attacked Dillon Danis. Inside the octagon, UFC featherweight Zubaira Tukhugov punched McGregor and found himself fined and suspended by the NSAC along with a release from the promotion. However, it wasn’t long after that he was brought back.

“Nobody has ever revealed it,” Tukhugov told Aslanbek Badaev (h/t Red Corner MMA). “I got suspended. My contract was terminated. Khabib said, ‘Zubaira will fight first then I will fight, too.’

“After the McGregor fight, the UFC really needed Khabib. So, they gave me a new contract. They also promised to put me on the Abu Dhabi card (UFC 242) with Khabib and Islam [Makhachev].”

Tukhugov, 32, was sidelined throughout the whole Nurmagomedov-McGregor saga, having not fought since a split decision loss to Renato “Moicano” Carneiro at UFC 198 in May 2016. Ideally, “Warrior’s” return would come at UFC 242 for what was the promotion’s big return to Abu Dhabi after a five-year absence.

Nurmagomedov and the future lightweight champion Makhachev were critical big-name stars to have on the card as Tukhugov mentioned. A fight of his own wasn’t a part of the plans for the event, though. As a result, Tukhugov claims Nurmagomedov was ready to back out of his booked main event title defense against Dustin Poirier.

“[UFC CEO] Dana White said that they had no room for me on that card,” Tukhugov said. “So, they were going to let me fight in Moscow. He tried to make Khabib change his mind, but Khabib was like, ‘Okay, I am going to rip this contract up now. I will give my spot on the card to Zubaira if you don’t have it for him.’

“It was his first really good payday. I said, ‘Please don’t do that.’ Then [UFC CBO] Hunter [Campbell] called me and said he respected Khabib’s decision and decided to remove a few fights to let me on the card. That’s how I managed to be part of the event.”

Tukhugov welcomed rising undefeated featherweight contender Lerone Murphy to the UFC at UFC 242, fighting to a split draw. He stuck around for four more fights afterward before he was released again by the promotion following a split decision loss to Elvis Brener in February 2023. He went 2-2 (5-3-1 in UFC, 20-6-1 overall) in that stretch and hasn’t fought since. Nurmagomedov fought once more when he submitted Justin Gaethje via a second-round triangle choke to go 29-0 and retire at UFC 254 in October 2020.

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MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin chats with Anthony Smith.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Joaquin Buckley (18-6) vs. Nursulton Ruziboev (34-8-2, 2 NC); UFC St. Louis, May 11

Alejandra Lara (9-7) vs. Gisela Luna (5-1); Combate Global, May 11

Andrea Lee (13-9) vs. Montana De La Rosa (12-9-1); UFC Louisville, June 8

Mike Malott (10-2-1) vs. Gilbert Urbina (7-3); UFC Fight Night, July 13

Nathaniel Wood (20-6) vs. Daniel Pineda (28-15-0, 3 NC); UFC 304, July 27

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