Morning Report: Chuck Liddell goes off on UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor brawl

On Saturday night, in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., Khabib Nurmagomedov did what he said he would do: he dominated Conor McGregor submitting the former two-weight world champion at UFC 229 to retain his UFC lightweight title. Had the night ended there, that still would have been the biggest news of the weekend, but instead, following his victory, Nurmagomedov did something MMA fans will be talking about for years to come.

Though heading into the fight, Nurmagomedov showed little sign that McGregor’s trademark trash talk was getting to him, after tapping McGregor in the fourth round, “The Eagle” flew into a rage, hopping over the cage and jumping at McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis. A brawl ensuedwith McGregor attempting to jump the fence after Nurmagomedov and then members of Nurmagomedov’s entourage storming the cage and taking cheap shots at McGregor. In the biggest fight in UFC history, with the whole world watching, MMA once again, showed its ass.

But in the immediate aftermath of the brawl, the MMA community was fairly split with their reactions. Many felt that the incident disgraced the sport and marred the entire event while others suggested that Nurmagomedov jumping the fence was justified given the personal attacks McGregor had lobbied at him before the fight. But perhaps the most common sentiment among fighters is summed up best by former UFC light heavyweight champion, Chuck Liddell in a series of Instagram posts: that the outcome was bad and that both fighters are to blame, as is the UFC for stoking the fires that led to a melee like this one.

“Incredible performance by both fighters, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. But to end it like they did was a huge embarrassment to the sport. We (fighters)are sportsmen and champions and we should hold ourselves to a higher standard. We owe it to our fans and the sport itself. I don’t know when things started turning into some kind of sh*t show?!!! Unfortunately, when you allow more and more B.S. during weigh ins and outside of fights; You only slap fighters on the wrist for acting like barbarians and then offer them bigger contracts and reward them for this behavior. There is no penalty for their actions and it condones this type of behavior and consequently our sport loses its sacred respect.

“Both sides were in the wrong here! However, this is what you should expect when you start to reward fighters for this kind of behavior and when you use a video of a bus attack to promote a fight. Oh and btw look who threw the first punch inside the ring before “he got jumped unprovoked” This UFC is not what we old timers built with our blood and sweat! It’s unacceptable!

Like Nurmagomedov, during his heyday, Liddell had a reputation as a stoic and unflappable badass and, also like Nurmagomedov, he found himself rivals with the biggest star in the UFC who happened to be brash and outspoken, and who he happened to soundly defeat when they finally fought each other after years of anticipation. However, after knocking out Tito Ortiz, Liddell didn’t hop the fence and start swinging on the rest of Team Punishment.

Liddell went on to say that when he returns to the cage later this year for a third fight with his own version of Conor McGregor, he intends to remind the MMA world that fighting, even in a grudge match, is about respect and sportsmanship.

“First week of training camp down and 7 weeks to go. I can’t wait to fight November 24th coming back to the sport I love to show everyone what this sport is all about.”

Chuck Liddell faces Tito Ortiz on Nov. 24 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. for Golden Boy Promotion’s first MMA event.