Darren Till questions Khabib: A few of us are not Muslims

UFC star Darren Till did not take Khabib Nurmagomedov’s critical comments about Khamzat Chimaev lightly!

Khamzat had major issues with his weight cut ahead of UFC 279 and missed the weight limit with 7.5 lbs for his welterweight main event. His bout against UFC veteran Nate Diaz was canceled and Khamzat squared off with Kevin Holland, an opponent that the Swede completely dominated and submitted in two minutes.

Despite his success in the octagon, a lot of criticism was directed at Khamzat during fight week. He got into an altercation with Paulo Costa at the UFC gym, argued with Holland backstage and pointed the finger at fans after missing the weight limit. That led to comments from UFC star Khabib who said that Khamzat does not have “good people” around him.

“If you are a Muslim, you should have good people around you,” Khabib Nurmagomedov said. “Muslims who can say: ‘Hey, don’t do this.'”I recently watched the weigh-in of Khamzat Chimaev. I followed what was happening with his weight and looked at his team. There are no Muslims around him and this is very bad. Because if you are a Muslim, you need good, strong people around you. [They] will say: ‘Come back, do this.’ When you become famous and rich, when you gain power and there are no people who will give advice or you do not listen to them, then something will happen. You need good people, even if you don’t like it, you need them.”

“The Gorilla” Till has been training with Khamzat and his Swedish team Allstars Training Center close to a year now. He sounded off on Khabib’s criticism in an interview with ESPN and questioned the former UFC champion.

“I’ve seen Khabib, sort of saying, ‘Khamzat doesn’t have good people around him,'” Till said. “Now, I get it, I get like the Muslim faith and that. I’ve got some very close Muslim friends here in Liverpool and abroad and in Dubai and stuff like that. I just don’t like him saying… I don’t know if he’s directing it at me or someone within Khamzat’s team, like coaches, teammates or whatever. There’s a few of us who aren’t Muslim. Now, I don’t like it because, one, I’ve only got Khamzat’s best interests.

“When Khamzat posted that meme saying it’s my fault, there was no problem. Direct all the blame on me I don’t care if it makes stuff easier for you. I would rather him direct the blame on me so when he posted it, and I’ve seen it, I was sat next to him, I was like, ‘what the fuck?’ and he’s laughing. I don’t care.”

“Khabib missed weight like five times. He’s got good people around him. We are not coming out now saying. It’s just because me and Khamzat have a bit of fun on camera, we’re a bit wild, does that mean I’m not good peoples or his coaches aren’t good peoples? His Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach is one of the best grapplers of all time. He’s not Muslim, does that mean he’s bad peoples?”

It was the first time Khamzat failed to make weight during his MMA career. Worth noting is that Khabib also had big issues making weight on a couple of occasions during his UFC career. Khabib missed weight in his UFC bout against Abel Trujillo and even had to cancel his co-main event against Tony Ferguson ahead UFC 209. Even in his last title bout, before retirement, Khabib had big problems getting down to lightweight.

Khamzat’s weight problems at UFC 279 have led to speculation about his future in the welterweight division. UFC boss Dana White has said that middleweight makes sense for Khamzat going forward, which could ruin the UFC Swede’s plan to win the welterweight belt before moving up a weight class!