In 2018, “The Notorious” incited a personal rivalry with Khabib Nurmagomedov, whom at one point he referred to as a “smelly, Dagestani rat.” And even after the now-infamous post-fight brawl that broke about because of such comments among many others, McGregor continued to stoke the fire against Dagestan in its people.
Mokaev says all he wants is to ask the Irishman why such words against his people were uttered. And he wants to do it face-to-face.
“To be honest, I really want to ask him why he talk bad about Dagestan. I really want to ask him, ‘Why talk about every person?’ I want to see face-to-face, I want to see his energy. Because I really… my managers, everybody saying he isn’t the same like he’s on the media,” he said.
“I just want to feel myself this energy. I don’t have to prove (anything to) anybody. I don’t have to be this (way) on the camera. I want to ask him about my people. Business, it’s good. But my people is my people. I want to ask him, why everybody? Just tell him, ‘it’s not good to call out the whole nation.’
“In Ireland, there’s also bad people. There’s also good people. My boxing coach is Irish. You cannot just say ‘Dagestan, bad.’ You cannot say this. This is wrong. He has to apologize about this.”
“If he accepts, I really want to smash him. And I see a lot of my supporters tweeting, ‘Smash him.’ And I’m like, ‘Hey, if people want to see this, that’s what I’m here for.’
“He apologized, but listen, if somebody don’t shake your hand, you just call him something. I don’t want to swear, but you call him, like, idiot. But you don’t go to race. (Going after) race is lower level mentality. Come on.
“I don’t believe racism should exist if you have a brain, you know? But if you don’t have one, it’s always gonna be there.”