Khabib reveals surprising source he gets ‘most hate’ from
MMA icon Khabib Nurmagomedov has discussed his attitude to social media, revealing what he believes is the source of much of the hate which is aimed in his direction – and it may surprise some fans.
Undefeated former UFC lightweight champion Khabib is one of Russia’s biggest social media stars, boasting an army of 32.1 million followers on Instagram alone.
That popularity continues to grow despite Khabib’s retirement from the Octagon more than 12 months ago as ‘The Eagle’ now pursues various coaching and business endeavors, including the expansion of his own MMA promotion.
As he shows no sign of shying away from the limelight, Khabib, 33, said that the rise of a prominent personality in any sphere of life would inevitably attract scrutiny along the way, including no shortage of haters.
“When a person becomes popular, very popular in absolutely any business, people appear who support him. And haters appear at the same time,” Khabib told Russian outlet Sovetsky-Sport.
“I haven’t seen any people, when they become popular, who are supported by absolutely everyone.
“Even when the Almighty chose and sent prophets to us to spread monotheism on earth, the correct values so that people do good, even then there were those who criticized their activities and were dissatisfied.
“Now we call the likes of them haters. Who are we? Just fighters. Of course, not everyone is happy with us.
"We beat someone up a couple of times, we were shown on TV, and we are popular.
"Of course we’ll be criticized and supported. Some people will like us, some won’t. I understand this.”
Khabib’s cage career was one based largely on respect for his opponents, but with some glaring exceptions such as the toxic feud with Conor McGregor.
That has unsurprisingly spawned ill-will on social media from some of the McGregor faithful, but Dagestani icon Khabib says that the source of much of the spite headed his way actually comes from Russian social media.
“Honestly, I haven't gone there for a long time,” replied Khabib when asked why he doesn’t use social media network Vkontakte – the popular Russian equivalent of Facebook.
“There used to be activity, but you know, mainly hate comes from there. In general, I don’t agree with all this, but there’s an expression: ‘There is no prophet in his own country.’
“For example, I read and feel that they support me more on Facebook or Instagram. It feels like there’s more support there.
"There’s no great desire to visit VKontakte. Yes, I have it, but I don’t [post] anything anymore.
“The desire to appear there has disappeared... Such is the attitude.”
Khabib might point to Russian social media as the source of criticism, but he does have the consolation this week of being voted his country’s sportsman of the year, according to a survey run by the ‘Public Opinion’ fund.
The 29-0 former fighter beat the likes of fellow MMA star Fedor Emelianenko, ice hockey icon Alexander Ovechkin and footballer Artem Dzyuba in the poll, proving Khabib’s enduring popularity even though he remains retired.
