'Heeeelp!' Khabib MOCKS Conor McGregor in Twitter war of words after Irish star slams Islam Makhachev for tweet

A war of words ignited when Khabib Nurmagomedov stepped in on Twitter when Conor McGregor criticized the Russian's teammate Islam Makhachev over his controversial now-deleted tweet about women in MMA.

Makhachev, a teammate of Khabib, posted a now-deleted tweet during the Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk bout at UFC 248 on Saturday night, stating "this is not a woman's sport," before later deleting it after receiving a stream of negative replies.

But the tweet didn't escape the attention of former two-division UFC champ McGregor, who let rip at the Russian in a Twitter post responding to the comment.

"An absolute cretin," he posted.

"A convicted steroid cheat that will do anything to avoid impact and stall a fight, and then talks down on one of the greatest exchanges of combat ever produced by our female combatants. These little gremlins! It’s back on. Filthy rats. Shame on the game."

McGregor's tweet prompted an immediate response from Khabib, who simply mocked McGregor with a screenshot from their UFC 229 fight, with the Irishman looking less than comfortable under the Russian's top pressure during the fight.

The tweet containing the pic, which didn't include McGregor's Twitter tag, was accompanied by a simple caption, "Heeeelp."

Clearly, McGregor saw it, because within just 20 minutes of Khabib's tweet, he responded with an untagged screenshot of his own, a pic of Nurmagomedov seemingly cowering away from the melee as security moved in to break up the chaos after their fight at UFC 229.

Conor's caption was equally simple, "STrEeT fiGhT."

But, undeterred, Khabib replied once again, this time with a video clip, as he shared the footage of McGregor punching a man in a Dublin pub, with the caption, "Show it to your son and say how good you are on the street fight."

With McGregor and Khabib seemingly continuing to throw barbs at each other, it all lays the groundwork for a monumental rematch between the pair later this year.

Khabib will take on former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 in Brooklyn first, however, while McGregor is expected to return to action later this summer.

If both come through their respective fights unscathed, a colossal rematch – the biggest in UFC history – could potentially be booked for later this year.