Khabib Nurmagomedov was known for his cold and calculated approach in the UFC, but his rivalry with Conor McGregor brought out a different side of him…
When, after beating the Irishman, Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage to confront some of his team members.

Just before the fight, Nurmagomedov had a message for UFC CEO Dana White.
On the Inspire Me podcast, he revealed his thoughts:

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.

Reflecting on the moment of jumping out of the cage post-fight, Nurmagomedov explained his emotions:

It was a very emotional time, but at the same time, it was my feeling [that] I really wanted to bite someone’s heart.
Do you have that feeling in your life? I just tried to bite his heart.

“The Eagle” said that this sort of a reaction was to be expected in a way:

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.

This is the angle everyone needs to see #UFC229

31s Khabib jumps over cage
37s Conor tries to jump over cage, but 2 security grab him
38s Khabib corner guy runs around cage
39s Khabib corner guy jumps cage (w/ wig)
41s Conor punches him on top of cage
42s Khabib guy punches back pic.twitter.com/mWRfZhcjcg

— Tim (@TimDdnb) October 7, 2018