UFC boss weighs in on Hasbulla-McGregor row
UFC president Dana White confirmed that his promotion has signed Russian internet celebrity Hasbulla Magomedov, and jokingly predicted that he would come out on top if the social media star and Conor McGregor decided to settle their feud in the street.
A close friend of McGregor’s former octagon rival Khabib Nurmagomedov, Hasublla was a breakout social media star in 2021 after a video of him facing off against rival Abdu Rozik went viral.
A planned fight between Hasbulla and Rozik never went ahead, but Hasbulla’s career went from strength to strength as he built up a legion of 3.6 million followers on Instagram.
A five-year deal to work with the UFC’s media relations department was rumored in September and then became public knowledge when Hasbulla revealed last week that he had signed a deal to ‘fight’ under the elite MMA banner.
“The rumors are true,” wrote Hasbulla, 20, who suffers from a rare genetic growth deficiency.
“I have officially signed a deal to fight in the UFC! Details will be revealed by the end of the year. Thank you to my team for making this dream a reality.”
During an appearance on a podcast with Robbie Fox of Barstool Sports, White confirmed Hasbulla’s agreement with the UFC but didn’t provide further details on what his role will entail, or whether he will actually fight or not.
“Yes, we did sign Hasbulla. And what he's going to end up doing remains to be seen,” White said.
Revealing that McGregor hasn’t reached out to him about Hasbulla’s signing yet, White jokingly predicted a nasty end for the Irishman if he and Hasbulla’s paths cross.
“Conor's gonna f**k around and get his a** whooped if he runs into him [Hasbulla] out in the streets,” White said.
McGregor and Hasbulla’s feud has been bubbling since the Dagestani named his chicken after the former two-weight UFC champion.
The online sparring escalated last month when McGregor referred to Hasbulla as a “gimp” and said he would love to “boot” him “over a goalpost.”
McGregor also called Hasbulla a “little smelly inbred,” triggering an instant reply from the Dagestani.
When he put pen to paper with the UFC, Hasbulla called McGregor out.
“I have my UFC contract now, if Conor McGregor is really a man… see me in Abu Dhabi,” he demanded.
“Got smashed by Khabib already. Guess his money from [Floyd] Mayweather ran out and he needs more attention,” Hasbulla added.
McGregor fired back by tweeting a picture of himself holding up a children’s toy with Hasbulla’s face photoshopped on it and wrote: “Now what you saying you little gimp.”
‘The Notorious’ went on to offer Hasbulla a sparring match, although the Russian responded “this is what I’ve been waiting for, as usual it’s deleted” after McGregor took down his message.
“Conor McGregor, just at me and leave the tweet up,” Hasbulla insisted.
If he is allowed to fight, a more realistic opponent for Hasbulla in the UFC octagon is Rozik.
At UFC 267 in October last year, the pair almost came to blows on the sidelines of the main event as Jan Blachowicz was contesting a light-heavyweight title fight against Glover Teixeira.
Hasbulla will be in attendance at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi this Saturday, where friend and fellow Dagestani Islam Makhachev takes on Brazilian Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title.
