If you didn’t know the name Khabib Nurmagomedov before, that changed after last weekend’s UFC 229. In the main event, Nurmagomedov successfully defended his UFC Lightweight Champion against Conor McGregor. There were lots of bad blood heading into the contest, which resulted in a massive brawl after the fight.
The UFC will wait for the Nevada State Athletic Commission to hand down any suspensions and fines later in the month, but the largest MMA promotion in the world has spoken about releasing those invoiced in the brawl. Nurmagomedov has stated that if anyone from his team is fired, he is also leaving.
That brings us to today, when Nurmagomedov sent out a tweet to WWE to see if they were interested in his service. We are not sure if Nurmagomedov is using WWE has leverage or if the 27-0 fighter from Dagestan is ready to move away from MMA.
While losing Nurmagomedov would be a major loss for the UFC, the WWE would not mind snatching him up. WWE already has signed former UFC champions Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey to lucrative contacts. Plus, they also have Matt Riddle working in the NXT brand.
Below is Nurmagomedov’s tweet, which even mentions wrestling Lesnar.
@WWE ask me to jump inside.
What do you think guys? #SmashLesnar #FakeFights— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) October 12, 2018
– The pressure on WWE to cancel or postpone their Crown Jewel card from Saudi Arabia continues. We noted how many people and politicians want the show scratched after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi went missing and is presumed dead. This has caused tension between the United States and Saudi Arabia, with President Donald Trump weighing his options.
WWE has remained mostly silent on the matter, outside of providing a one sentence statement that they were monitoring the situation.
Today, several top United States Senators such as Chris Murphy, Bob Menendez, Chris Coons and Lindsey Graham gave their opinion on what WWE should do.
Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut: “I’d hope that they [WWE] would be rethinking their relationship with the kingdom especially with respect to events coming up in the next weeks…”
Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey: “Private enterprise is private enterprise, different than a governmental entity. But because [Linda McMahon] is part of the president’s cabinet, it falls into the grey area where the administration really should give it some thought and maybe even prevail upon them not doing it.”
Senator Chris Coons from Delaware: WWE “should be taking a hard look” at their relationship with Saudi Arabia moving forward.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina: “There should be a pause” with the business relationship.
