Khabib Nurmagomedov: “The terrorist attacks in Dagestan are a brutal act. People were killed five minutes from my home”

Former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov called the terrorist attacks in Dagestan brutal and inhumane, and also denied media reports that the liquidated Gadzhimurad Kagirov was a representative of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s school.

According to the Investigative Committee, 15 law enforcement officers and four civilians were killed in a series of terrorist attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent on the evening of June 23. In Dagestan, June 24, 25 and 26 have been declared days of mourning.

Earlier, the Telegram channel Mash reported that Kagirov was a pupil of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s school and a member of his son Khabib’s Eagles FC fight club. Rizvan Magomedov, who represents the interests of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev and other Russian fighters, denied this information in a comment to Match TV.

— It offends me that all these moments are attributed to a certain sport or a certain hall. To go into a monastery and kill a person just because he professes a different religion… Does this need any condemnation? Is it not clear that this is a brutal and inhuman act? Where and how has such a thing ever been committed? In our Dagestan, representatives of more than 30 nationalities live, and, of course, the majority profess Islam, but there are also Jews and Christians. This has never happened in the 30-35 years that I have lived in Dagestan.

People were being killed five minutes from my house. How can this be normal? My children live there, my mother, my family, my brother, my relatives. I am in touch with people until the morning. People are being killed there, they are calling that terrorist attacks are happening somewhere. But how should I react to this?

We have it at school [Кагиров] was in 2021 and went through one training camp in our gym. When he switched from freestyle wrestling to mixed martial arts, he went through a training camp with us. In my opinion, he was with us for only a couple of months. And he is not a graduate of our school, this is absolute nonsense, this is not true. Yes, he trained with us for some time, but not even half a year has passed, Ruptly quotes Nurmagomedov as saying.

In professional MMA, Kagirov had two official fights and won both.