UFC Superstar Under Fire for 'Disgusting and Degrading' Video Mocking Homeless People

By Ross Kelly August 8, 2018 at 12:39pm

For his nearly 5 million Instagram followers, UFC superstar Khabib Nurmagomedov usually shows off videos of his training for his next fight or sightseeing with his friends and family.

But another video uploaded by Nurmagomedov is making the rounds, and it’s one he might regret. It has nothing to do with his UFC career, and it shows off an ugly side of the lightweight champion ahead of the biggest fight of his career.

In the since-deleted video, Nurmagomedov and his cousin, Abubakar, who also competes in MMA, are shown mocking two homeless people with the promise of money in exchange for them doing pushups.

What are your thoughts on this video posted by Khabib of him and his cousin paying homeless people to do press ups for money… 🤔

Personally we feel it's disgusting and degrading.. Especially them constantly laughing at those involved.. 😡 pic.twitter.com/msE5i9ureE

— The MMA Bible (@TheMMABible) August 6, 2018

Abubakar is the man on camera, while it appears that Khabib is the one laughing and recording the video. At the 18-second mark you can see Abubakar hold out money in front of a homeless man and then snatch it back while gesturing to the ground for more pushups.

Then the video cuts to another homeless man doing pushups and Abubakar directing the action. Khabib continues his sickening laughter through the end of the video.

Many in the MMA community were understandably disgusted by the video and didn’t hold back with their opinions.

Disgusting behaviour. People may think this is harmless but this is taking away dignety from a person that is in a struggle and you laugh about it. He see people doing pushups everyday without laughing. But he thinks it is funny because there is a poor homeless man?!?!

— jack hermansson (@jackthejokermma) August 7, 2018

It pains my heart to see a man who talks about God all the time, act like this!

— Cindy Battlecat Dandois (@DandoisCindy) August 7, 2018

This makes me sad 😔

— Nathaniel Wood (@TheProspectMMA) August 7, 2018

There’s been no statement from Khabib or his team regarding the video, but this is the last thing that he and the UFC want to be talking about leading up to his fight with Conor McGregor.

The two are set to face off at UFC 229 on Oct. 6 in what will be McGregor’s first UFC fight in over two years.

Should Khabib Nurmagomedov be reprimanded by UFC for his actions?

Nurmagomedov won the UFC lightweight championship in April and holds a 26-0 record. He also has the longest undefeated streak in MMA history with the last 10 of those fights coming with UFC.

The Nurmagomedov-McGregor fight is expected to be the biggest in MMA history, according to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.

“You have the biggest draw in the history of the sport, the most famous fighter in MMA, and arguably the most famous fighter in all of combat sports,” Helwani said, “as well as one of the top 10 most famous athletes in the world, returning after an almost two-year hiatus.

“He’s competing against perhaps his biggest rival in a fight that has been brewing for almost two years. It’s personal. You have the footage of the bus incident, you have the footage of Conor in handcuffs and it’s team vs. team. It’s authentic. People are picking sides. You can’t script anything better than this.”

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