Darren Till has questioned Khabib Nurmagomedov's theory that a lack of Muslim influence caused Khamzat Chimaev to be overweight last weekend.
The former UFC lightweight champion said he was concerned Chimaev had little-to-no Muslims in his team amid a chaotic UFC 279 fight week. Having initially signed to face Nate Diaz in the main event at welterweight, the Swede missed weight just hours after getting involved in a press conference-cancelling brawl.
Nurmagomedov, a fellow Muslim, was a keen observer as Chimaev, who early in his career was branded as 'the next Khabib', continued his winning streak in an hastily-arranged match-up with Kevin Holland at a catchweight. He watched on from the UK, where he was participating in a speaking tour, as Chimaev missed weight by 7.5lb and ended up in a brand new fight.
“If you are a Muslim, you should have good people around you," 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 [around you] 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."
Till took offence to this statement, questioning if the legendary former champion believes that non-Muslims can be "good people". The Liverpool middleweight has become particularly close with Chimaev this year since they started training together in Sweden, and was a big part of his team throughout last week including trying to get him on weight.
“I seen Khabib, sort of like saying, ‘Khamzat doesn’t have good people around him.’,” Till told ESPN MMA. “Now, I get it, I get like the Muslim faith. I’ve got some very close Muslim friends here in Liverpool and abroad or in Dubai. I just don’t like him saying, I don’t know if he’s directing 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 [missing weight] was my fault, there was no problem. Direct all the blame on me I don’t care if it makes stuff easier for you.
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"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 f***?’ and he’s laughing. I don’t care. My only goal fight week was to watch him win the fight. I wanted him to just make weight and win the fight. I’ve got his back more than anyone.
"Even when Khamzat was backstage on his own, they made us go to the front and then Nate came in late with the same group of people. There was five of us and five of them and they never went straight backstage. I jumped over the gate and I went on backstage, I was shouting like, ‘Dana, Hunter, and everyone.’ Why the f**k was I not with Khamzat? Why was he left alone?”
Till also noted that Nurmagomedov may have had a perfect record in the octagon, but it was far from the same story when it came to weight issues during his fighting days. The Russian had frequent issues getting down to 155lb and was even hospitalised during one particularly bad cut.
“Khabib’s missed weight like five times," Till added. "He’s got good people around him. We are not coming out now saying [anything else]. 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 people or his coaches aren’t good people? His Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach is one of the best grapplers of all time. He’s not Muslim, does that mean he’s bad people?”
