Conor McGregor has told Khabib Nurmagomedov's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, that he will 'celebrate' when he dies as part of a series of deleted tweets in another row between the warring former UFC rivals.
McGregor, who is recovering in the US from the broken leg he suffered in his July defeat to Dustin Poirier, has rarely missed an opportunity to troll Khabib and his various representatives, dating back to their fractious feud in 2018 which saw the Dubliner arrested in Brooklyn and eventually submitted by the Russian champion months later in one of the most drama-filled evenings in UFC history.
Moments after Khabib's victory, the Dagestani fighter jumped over the cage to attack McGregor training partner Dillon Danis – while several of Nurmagomedov's own team entered the cage, with at least two seen taking on McGregor.
In his latest social media salvo, McGregor has likened himself to Roman Kovalev – the man whose story has gripped Russia in recent days after he came to the aid of a woman in a Moscow subway last week before a group of men, understood to be of Dagestani descent, viciously attacked and hospitalized him.
Kovalev was honored by Russian official Alexander Bastrykin for his heroics – and Nurmagomedov quipped joked that McGregor should also receive a medal for the beating he took at UFC 229.
"Bastrykin! Where is Khabib’s 'sh*t in his pants medal'? He needs this for sh*tting his pants 10 rows back," retorted McGregor, to which Abdelaziz responded: "You’re drinking again, boy – he's taken your soul but will never give it back, punk b*tch."
McGregor responded with a now-deleted screengrab of a Google search in which he asked if there was a high rate of "inbreeding" in Dagestan, along with a smiley emoji.
"People of Dagestan are some of the best people in the world: they are honorable, hard workers and have a lot of integrity – something you don’t know nothing about," responded Abdelaziz, before McGregor turned up the temperature even further with another swiftly-deleted tweet.
"I hate you, bro," he wrote. "When you die, I celebrate."
"You are sick. Do you think it is funny? I’m done responding to your sick ass," retorted Abdelaziz to McGregor, who responded with a tweet he again removed: "Smell you later, sh*t the bus."
McGregor and Abdelaziz have had a very strained relationship throughout McGregor's rivalry with Nurmagomedov.
During a press event promoting their fight in 2018, Abdelaziz was silenced by UFC president Dana White after continually heckling McGregor during a press event.
The Dominance MMA head is also a frequent commenter on McGregor's social media profiles.
McGregor had openly campaigned for a rematch with the undefeated Russian fighter since their first meeting but appears to have signaled that he understands this is an impossibility following Khabib's recent retirement.
And as the evidence suggests, the rivalry has now boiled down to slinging shots on social media at every available opportunity.
Also on rt.com ‘They acted like beasts’: MMA coach warns thugs who savagely beat man in Moscow subway assault ‘will learn good & bad in prison’