Khabib Nurmagomedov reflects on Conor McGregor rivalry: 'I just tried to bite his heart'

Khabib Nurmagomedov couldn’t wait to get his hands on Conor McGregor.

Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor to retain his lightweight title in October 2018 at UFC 229, in what to this day is the highest-selling pay-per-view in company history. There was plenty of bad blood between the two, and McGregor ramped up the trash talk to personal, and almost physical, levels. McGregor tried to intimidate Nurmagomedov in the lead-up to his title fight with Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 by throwing a dolly on the UFC fighter bus he was in.

It was there where Nurmagomedov coined his famous phrase, “Send me location.”

“It was like we just signed the contract, and it was like I prayed to God, ‘Please just close the cage and me and him be alone,'” Nurmagomedov said on the “Inspire Me Podcast.” “This is what I really, really wanted at that time. Because you never know: Someone can get injured, something can happen. You never know.

“I was preparing for this fight, and I was waiting for this moment. I was very happy. I remember when I come inside the cage, when the cage closed, I remember I looked at Dana (White) and I said, ‘Today, you cannot protect him.’ Dana asked me what? I said, ‘Today, you cannot protect him.’ He didn’t hear me. ‘It’s OK, after the fight we’ll talk.'”

After Nurmagomedov mauled and submitted McGregor, his hatred for him didn’t stop there. He couldn’t control his emotions as he jumped over the cage to attack McGregor’s corner, and a brawl ensued.

It brought out a side of Nurmagomedov that no one had seen before, but “The Eagle” was eager to send a message.

“It was a very emotional time, but at the same time, it was my feeling,” Nurmagomedov said. “I really wanted to bite someone’s heart. Do you have that feeling in your life? I just tried to bite his heart. Maybe you can feel this. I am ‘The Eagle,’ and when the eagle is hungry, it’s not good. He has to hunt. That’s why when the promotion promotes this fight, they have to expect something.

“When they know me, when they know all my team, when they know we don’t play. We compete; we don’t play. You cannot play MMA. You can play soccer, you can play American football, you can play hockey, but you cannot play MMA. You have to fight. This is a fighting game. A lot of people said it was a very strange or weird or something like this, but it was my decision.”