Dana White ‘Surprised’ By ‘Harsh’ NAC Punishment Given to Khabib Nurmagomedov

Tuesday was a day of reckoning for some of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s biggest stars.

A primary point of interest was the sanctions given to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor for their roles in the post-fight brawl at UFC 229 this past October. Nurmagomedov was suspended nine months (it can be reduced to six months if he participates in an anti-bullying campaign) and fined $500,000 for jumping out of the cage and attacking McGregor teammate Dillon Danis. McGregor, meanwhile, was suspended six months and fined $50,000 for climbing the cage and taking a swing at Nurmagomedov’s teammate, Abubakar Nurmagomedov.

UFC President Dana White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter to discuss the hearing. His biggest takeaway was the severity of the sanctions given to the lightweight champion.

“I was obviously surprised how much they put on Khabib,” said White. “It was a half-million dollars and six months if he does some PSAs. They had the whole thing contained in seconds. It was a little harsh in my opinion. It is what it is.”

It appears that Nurmagomedov and his team were surprised with the sanctions as well. His teammates, Zubaira Tukhugov and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, were given one-year suspensions for their role in the brawl. Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, told ESPN that the champion will no longer fight in Las Vegas as a result.

"He's done with Vegas for giving his brothers such harsh punishment," Abdelaziz said. "He loves MSG [Madison Square Garden]. Lots of his fans live around there, and New York has always been good to him. He misses fighting in New York.”

The rivalry between Nurmagomedov and McGregor included plenty of trash talk, both via social media and during press conferences. The fact that it led to two incidents — the brawl as well as McGregor’s infamous bus attack last April — had the NAC considering discussing a plan to regulate pre-fight trash talk. For his part, White says the pre-fight antics and promotion comes with the territory.

“It’s a fight. At the end of the day, it’s a fight,” he said. “Sometimes you come across people that don’t like each other and there’s a lot of bad blood. That was in the case in this fight. That’s what we do it’s the fight business. These guys are talking about fighters saying mean things to each other and all this other stuff. If you break it down and you go back to when Ali fought Frazier, and you look at the times when it happened, the stuff he said about Frazier and to Frazier was horrible. Horrible things you didn’t say to somebody else back then.”

Meanwhile, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was granted a one-fight license by the commission following a lengthy evidentiary hearing, clearing the way for his title defense at UFC 235. Jones will be subject to rigorous drug testing going forward if he wants to be re-licensed following the March 2 event in Las Vegas.

“I’m rooting for the guy. I hope he does it,” White said. “He’s one of the best ever maybe the greatest ever. Hopefully, he’ll keep his personal life together and pass these tests and continue to cement his legacy in the sport.